Editorial: Prioritizing individualism, not professionalism

Scripted paragraphs announcing a new internship or promotion — paired with the standard professional headshot, a suit against a plain background, a smile just wide enough to seem friendly —  adorn the cookie-cutter posts across our LinkedIn feeds.

Comparing someone’s LinkedIn profile with their Instagram, you might think they’re two different people.

Instagram shows people’s relaxing beach trips in Florida, adventurous ATV rides in the woods, nights out and planned adventures with friends. It’s a highlight reel of the “coolest” things they’ve done — vacations, aesthetics, all their best moments. 

LinkedIn is the opposite: polished professionals with new promotions, 500-plus connections, impressive resumes and corporate headshots. According to their profiles, they wake up at sunrise, read the Financial Times, drink their coffee strictly black and squeeze in a workout before spending the rest of the day hard at work in an office. 

So which version is real? Most of us likely fall somewhere in the middle of the two profiles — working hard during the week to spend the weekend with friends. 

But social media pushes us to split ourselves in two. Instagram is too casual. LinkedIn is too performative. Neither shows the whole person.

The pressure to fit into standard social media profiles starts early. On LinkedIn, connection-count becomes a status symbol. Clicking  “connect” is treated as networking even when there’s no relationship behind it. On Instagram, “follow” is equally empty. They’re both passive interactions that offer no real substance beyond the screen.

It feels rewarding to amass these virtual friends. But the relationship can be one-sided, especially on LinkedIn.

Those connections only become “real” when we need something — usually a job. Suddenly, we’re direct messaging someone we met once in college, asking for referrals, interviews or to vouch for a work ethic they limitedly witnessed.

It’s awkward and transactional, yet for many students searching for a coveted internship, it feels expected.

Networking matters and is a significant part of the professional world, but genuine networking happens face-to-face — meeting at an event, joining a club, talking to a classmate in your major — anything that finds someone with a commonality. 

Real conversations don’t sound like a LinkedIn post. 

LinkedIn language has become a  script: formal, repetitive and painfully vague. Everyone is “thrilled” and “beyond grateful,” but they’re rarely specific about why a job excites them. We spend 40-plus hours a week working — surely there’s something more meaningful to share than a cliché. 

The comment sections are no better: endless, obligatory “congratulations,” “so well deserved” and “so proud” messages cycle through feeds where everyone appears constantly successful. 

There’s pressure to post when you acquire an internship or job, and there’s a feeling of failure as you watch others achieve milestones ahead of you. For students and young professionals,  constantly measuring themselves against others can feel like a scoreboard that says you’re behind. 

But the reality is employers already have your resume, cover letter and other application materials that detail why you want the job. They aren’t judging you on how well you announce achievements online. So who’s all this formality really for?

LinkedIn is still a form of social media.  It should leave room for personality  —  the excitement, the nerves and the real reasons you said yes to a job. 

Tell us what matters: the cool office, the coworker who already made you laugh or the challenges ahead that scare you.  A human post sparks human connection — the kind that may lead to a coffee chat, mentorship or true inspiration for a young professional looking to enter the working world.

Adding a touch of personality to the formality of a profile humanizes a resume and transforms bullet points into a post people actually want to engage with.

While you might not always be the daredevil portrayed on your Instagram or the perfectionist on LinkedIn, you’re the person in between — and that identity is who people relate to and want to connect with. Embracing that middle ground makes us more authentic, more relatable, worth knowing and worth hiring.