Around one in four professionals believe it is acceptable to use LinkedIn as a dating tool, according to a survey by Zety, a CV-template platform, and 22 per cent say they have either reached out to or responded to someone on the networking site with romantic intent.
The findings come as more people, tired of swipe-based dating apps, turn to the professional network to meet partners, despite LinkedIn’s community policies, which prohibit romantic advances.
“Our focus is on making sure that people are safe from unwanted romantic advances,” a LinkedIn spokesperson said.
The Zety survey polled 1,023 US employees. Alongside the headline figures, it found that 12 per cent of respondents had formed a romantic relationship that began on the platform, and 48 per cent regarded LinkedIn profile information as more trustworthy than that found on dating apps.
The platform’s public profiles, with clear headshots and a record of a person’s education and career, provide the kind of information dating apps typically lack. Singles have also tried speed dating, hobby-based meetups and spreadsheets as alternatives to app-based matching, a trend that runs alongside reports of people using dating apps to hunt for jobs and professional contacts.
Esme Gordon-Craig, a 24-year-old freelance journalist in London, used LinkedIn to follow up with a colleague after her internship ended, suggesting they continue a conversation about career paths over drinks. He chose a pub near the office. “He was kind of like, ‘This is a date, isn’t it?’” she said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah.’”
Working remotely without a team or office, she said she still uses the site to make connections that are professional, social “and maybe more”. “If there’s a spark, then it’s great,” Gordon-Craig said. “And if there’s not, then it’s just a good networking opportunity.”
Rachel Wong received a connection request from Sam Sawchuck, an alumnus of her then employer, who said he had first seen her on Tinder and suggested coffee. After colleagues vouched for him, she accepted and, “keeping things professional”, asked for his help with a problem at work. The couple are now looking for a wedding venue. “If it was LinkedIn, so be it,” Wong said. “I mean, he’s been the best connection I’ve ever made.”
In San Diego, financial adviser Amal Hagisufi was recruiting for a vacancy when she messaged Moustafa Madkaur, who works in banking. He initially declined, saying her office was 40 minutes away, but reconsidered after seeing her on the dating site Plenty of Fish and sent a new LinkedIn message with his phone number. “It was way more smooth than the way I had been previously approached on the dating apps,” Hagisufi said.
Dating coach Jaime Bronstein, who supports using the site this way, said a first message should be appropriate to the platform and never obviously romantic, and advised against opening lines such as “Are you single?” or “You’re gorgeous!” on a professional network.
Users say the platform’s notifications, which alert members when someone views their profile, complicate discreet vetting. Katie Istomin, a student at Cornell, checks prospects’ subjects and club memberships to gauge ambition; one of her sorority sisters set up a second account to browse profiles anonymously. “LinkedIn’s low-key a snitch for that,” Istomin said.
None of this is condoned by LinkedIn, whose position remains that romantic approaches are not permitted on the site.
