I Turned My LinkedIn Profile Into A Dating Profile

I would like to add you to my professional network of love.

brand.linkedin.com

LinkedIn is a social media site full of hot, career-minded singles ready to mingle — despite its claim to be a site for "professional networking."

LinkedIn says its mission is "to connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful." But what about making them fall in LOVE?

Because LinkedIn already feels a little like a dating site — you can add a photo, and it lets you see who viewed your profile — I decided to see if I could use it like one.

The first thing I had to do was add a photo. I wanted to look professional, yet vaguely flirty. That is actually very difficult. Here are two horrendous failed attempts.

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I had never put a photo on my LinkedIn profile before. Honestly, it seems weird. Your looks shouldn't factor into your job qualifications, even though in the real, terrible world we live in, they obviously do. Looks DEFINITELY factor into finding a love partner.

I tried listing my job title as "Looking for a partner in crime."

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Then I worried that seemed a little extreme, so I decided to just list my occupation as "single."

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I listed my education as the University of Love to make sure my intentions were clear.

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But then I ended up changing it to my real university because I wanted my suitors to get to know the real me.

LinkedIn allows you to provide a general "summary" of what you're looking for and what you have to offer.

LinkedIn Screenshot

So I added pertinent skills.

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But I don't think I did it correctly...

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I noticed you could add a background image.

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LinkedIn kept asking me questions that really did feel more like dating than networking. What causes do I care about?

LinkedIn Screenshot

Next, I got to work searching for eligible bachelors.

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Unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn't have any filters for relationship status or sexual orientation. So you just have to go by photo hotness, kind of like on Tinder. LinkedIn does let you filter your search by location, so I could scope out the locals.

I tried to search for careers that sounded like they would make a lot of money — "finance," "hedge find," and "CEO." Then I sat back to wait and see if any of the dudes I looked at were interested in checking out my professional qualifications.

I tried to think of tasteful ways I could make adding people to my network flirtier.

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Sadly, I looked at so many hotties' profiles that LinkedIn thought I was a recruiter, and said I needed to PAY.

LinkedIn Screenshot

I guess I am a recruiter — my very own love recruiter. Just like so many dating sites, you have to fork over money if you really want to get into it.

I was thrilled to discover that several of the dudes I'd scoped out came back to check out my profile. They did not, however, message me about love OR career opportunities.

Perhaps LinkedIn is just another sad, loveless place in this thing we call life.