Ex-Google | Stanford LEAD | Ex-Founder | Sr. Engineering Manager. Career systems for engineers who want FAANG offers, faster promotions, and leadership roles. 650+ interviews conducted, 1,100+ engineers mentored. Read by 178,000+ engineers across platforms.
LinkedIn told me what their hiring AI looks for
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Hey Reader, Welcome back to Guided Growth where we talk about the skills that accelerate your career beyond just writing great code. Last week LinkedIn invited me to a roundtable with the team that builds Hiring Assistant (LiHA). That is their AI agent for recruiters. Prashanthi Padmanabhan (VP, Engineering) and Nithya (Director, Engineering) walked us through it. I went in expecting a product demo. I came out with a to-do list for my own profile. Two things they said stuck with me. Recruiters using it review 81% fewer profiles to find qualified candidates. That is LinkedIn's number, not mine. Read it from the candidate's side. The agent filters first. A recruiter sees the profiles it ranks. If it skips you, nobody reads you. LiHA is built skills-first. Their words: capabilities and potential, not pedigree alone. A title and a company name give it very little to match on. Numbers, skills and certifications give it a lot. Here is the checklist I promised on LinkedIn. Four things. Do them this week, not the week you decide to switch. 1. Update your profile now. A stale profile does not get inbound calls. That is how you end up applying instead of choosing. 2. Upload your resume to LinkedIn. The agent reads your application and your profile together. If they tell two different stories, you lose the match. 3. Put a number in every role. "Owned the alerting pipeline" gives it nothing. "Cut on-call pages from 40 to 9 a month" gives it something to match. 4. Show up when you are not looking. A quiet profile is a thin profile. Once you need a job, every DM you did not get is a missed offer. One more thing nobody in the room said, so I will. A profile is never right on day one. Mine took a few passes. Do the four things, then come back in two weeks and do them again. Hit reply with the one line on your profile you would fix first. I read every reply. Either way, keep going. The effort you're putting in will compound. TheGuidedGrowth. |
The Guided Growth
Ex-Google | Stanford LEAD | Ex-Founder | Sr. Engineering Manager. Career systems for engineers who want FAANG offers, faster promotions, and leadership roles. 650+ interviews conducted, 1,100+ engineers mentored. Read by 178,000+ engineers across platforms.
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