If you’ve reached the final stage of “swipe right” fatigue from all the dating apps, a new report suggests another, unorthodox avenue to find love: LinkedIn – and according to some Black folks who have testified on social media, this method might yield some pretty good results!
As unconventional as it may seem, a study by resume-building site Zety concluded that 1 in 8 respondents formed romantic relationships that began on LinkedIn. And why is that, you may ask? That’s because for about 50 percent of the people they surveyed, they viewed the information listed on a person’s LinkedIn profile as more accurate and credible than the information folks would usually put on their dating profiles.
Career expert Jasmine Escalera recently spoke with SFGate about this report, noting that people who are interested in using LinkedIn as a dating tool usually look at someone’s profile picture, bio, career path, educational level, and number of mutual connections before deciding to pursue a romantic relationship. She added that of the people who would use the job search site to find a suitable partner, Millennials and Gen Z make up about 60 percent.
Related: Every Dating Red Flag That Black Internet Agrees On — And a Few We Still Fight About
So how is this new dating trend panning out for Black folks? Well, if you ask TikTok user Terra Renee, things appear to be going well as she was able to secure three coffee dates in a week with “gainfully employed men.” In the comments section, her followers couldn’t help but commend her for her actions and share similar stories of others they knew who found love on the “job app.”
“Straight to the finance sector of LinkedIn I go,” wrote one user in her comments section.
“My friend met her husband on LinkedIn. They’ve been married for almost 10 years,” said another.
One other user joked, “You know what .. I’m leaving here with something, a job, a coffee, or a man lmao.”
User James Kweisi also echoed similar sentiments, urging Black folks to use the platform, which he argues gives people the best of both worlds.
“Your dating life sucks because you’re using traditional dating platforms and you’re not using LinkedIn. LinkedIn, babe! I’m telling you, when I got hipped to LinkedIn? Poof! ” he said. “Chile, CEO, CMO, COO, CFO! If it don’t got a ‘C’ or a founder—I’m good. No shade, I’m good. You can do both in one app. You could get a job, get booked, and you could fall in love and find your husband. Or your wife!”
@jameskweisi LinkedIn is the new Hinge
#dating
User Smooth Sayer took a more direct approach, responding to people who claim their Hinge is “broken” by redirecting them to his previous suggestion of using LinkedIn instead.
“I didn’t tell you to get on Hinge! Refer to your SOP, please, your Standard Operating Procedure. I wrote it for you. Nowhere in there does it say ‘Get on Hinge.’ I told you to get on LinkedIn! The dating app you should be on is LINKEDIN!” he said.
@_smoothsayer Please refer to your SOP
#datingapps #hinge #relationship
However, there were still some skeptics who were hesitant to use a professional networking app to look for love.
“LinkedIn be having married people. I’m not sliding in a married man’s DMs,” said one user under Smooth Sayer’s post.
Others insisted that if they spend any time on LinkedIn, they only want to hear from HR executives.
“Nah dudes be tryna slide in your DMs on LinkedIn and I’m looking for a JOB!” said another user.
Added one other person: “Please don’t send folks to the career site bothering folks for dates.”
Noted one other user, “I hope this is a joke because the way I would cus if someone sends me a connection on LinkedIn for a date.”
What do you think? Should we be sliding into LinkedIn DMs instead of swiping left or right? Or leave the job hunting site to do just that?
