LinkedIn is rolling out new AI tools to help you find and apply to open jobs, the company announced today (Nov. 1). The career platform likens its tools to a coaching experience for job-seekers. Available to Premium members, the new features will let users interact with a chatbot about open job opportunities, soliciting advice on whether a posted role is a good fit based on your profile, which skills you need to become a better candidate for a posting, or the background on companies you might be interested in working for.
“We always hear from job-seekers that when they come across an interesting opportunity, their biggest pain points [are], Am I a good fit for this role?, and If I am, how do I maximize my chance of getting it?” chief product officer Tomer Cohen told Quartz. The tool aims “to get you much closer to that job, not just with information, but also with confidence.”
The “coaching” is part of a larger set of new AI features rolling out today. In another application, users can generate summaries of posts on LinkedIn with personalized lessons or advice, called Takeaways.
It’s not the first time the company has compared its AI-based tools to a career coach. Last month, LinkedIn released what it called “AI-powered coaching” within its e-learning platform, LinkedIn Learning; the feature allows users to message with a chatbot for advice and content recommendations inside its course library. (It’s also not the first time eagle-eyed observers have noted the company’s interest in AI career coaches: Rumors of its job-seeker coach were reported this summer by app researcher Nima Owji, who scoured LinkedIn code to find a yet-unreleased feature that makes similar promises to today’s tool.)
The feature signals LinkedIn is all-in on the AI-enhanced job search, which Cohen says it’s “starting to reimagine from scratch.” According to the company, there are 65 million job-seekers on LinkedIn weekly; about 140 job applications are submitted per second.
LinkedIn has been adding AI at a quick clip
The new tools add to the career site’s growing list of AI integrations for users and recruiters alike. In March, LinkedIn rolled out AI writing assistance for profiles, job descriptions, and direct messages. Last month, it announced additional AI features for recruiters alongside the LinkedIn Learning chatbot.
The career platform has seen a surge of growth in the past year. LinkedIn says it now has more than one billion members, a milestone number for its user base. Five members join every second, with the vast majority coming from outside of the US. Last year, LinkedIn crossed $15 billion in revenue for the first time; it’s also been suggested that the platform has been “benefiting from upheavals elsewhere” at social media platforms like X, née Twitter.
But record revenue hasn’t kept LinkedIn from undertaking cost-cutting measures, much like most of the tech industry in the last 12 months. The company held layoffs twice this year, letting go approximately 716 employees in May and 668 last month. Recent cuts were made “to invest in strategic priorities for our future,” according to the company’s statement.
LinkedIn joins a list of tech behemoths that have reported profit upswings after cutting employees loose in the past year. Meta, which laid off thousands of workers over four rounds of dismissals, reported a big earnings boost last week. Meanwhile, Microsoft, which owns LinkedIn, cut roughly 10,000 staffers (or 5% of its workforce) at the top of the year; it announced in its latest earnings report that net income has leaped by 27%.