What actually gets people hired

Engagement doesn't mean it's right. And what's right might not get any engagement.

I’ll explain.

I am a big-believer in having a presence on LinkedIn. I have 100,000+ followers on the platform. It’s a fantastic way to connect and put yourself in front of a wide range of people.

Here’s my profile so you don’t think I’m being a hypocrite with what I’m about to say!

Over the past year or so I have noticed a shift in the content away from value-led and informative to what I would class as ‘engagement-baiting‘.

There's this unspoken pressure on LinkedIn to have the hottest take in the room. These are usually outspoken opinions that drive engagement and that the algorithm rewards.

This becomes a self fulfilling cycle where the best performing posts are the ones that are the most controversial and drive the most comments and you see creators caught in this loop of chasing that same level of performance.

It's also become increasingly misaligned from what actually happens in the real world.

Last year we placed into 14 countries across APAC and MENA.

One of the best candidates I worked with during that period had 0 LinkedIn presence and no notable personal brand online.

What they had: four promotions in eight years, a mutual connection who called me unprompted to vouch for them, and a reputation I knew of well in advance.

You can't fake that.

The people I know with the most impressive careers didn't build them with contrarian takes and engagement-chasing opinions.

They did it by doing the right things inside the box. Consistently. For years.

My biggest ever placement was at C-level into a very well-known company. He’d never posted on LinkedIn but I was told to speak to him by 4x different people. That’s not a personal brand, it’s a professional reputation.

None of that goes viral. It's not glamorous but it compounds.

Think about the achievement in your career you’re most proud of. Did you make a LinkedIn post about it?

The answer is probably not. That doesn’t mean it didn’t happen right?

What makes a great career might not always make a great LinkedIn post.

What’s important is knowing that visibility is useful and might get you noticed.

Reputation gets you hired.

Don't confuse the two.

The best careers are built in rooms that LinkedIn can't see into.

Big disclaimer: I'm not saying don't post or use LinkedIn - please don’t read this post this way.

I tell people to build their LinkedIn every week in this newsletter and I stand by it. Visibility matters in a market as crowded as this one.

In fact, I sit on the other side of the table every day across Dubai, Riyadh, Hong Kong and Singapore. I know what makes someone stop scrolling - and what makes them move on in seconds.

Every paid subscriber to The Inner Circle gets a personalised review of their LinkedIn profile from me. Not a template. Not an AI audit. Me, going through your profile section by section, telling you exactly what a recruiter in this market sees.

You also get The Outreach Script Pack (7 copy-paste scripts built from real placements), biweekly premium deep dives, the full content archive, and a monthly live Q&A.

I've got 10 review slots open this week.

Get on The Shortlist here 👈🏻

In the meantime, here’s our live roles for the week…

Live Roles - APAC and MENA

For full JDs and more information, please direct CVs to [email protected] with the preferred role in the Subject Line.

Due to the volume of applicants we receive, we are only able to respond to those who match the criteria.

APAC

MENA

Please allow longer time for replies and responses while we work with our partners to establish the current status of processes in the ME.

If you think anything here might be a fit for someone in your network, please feel free to share!

Thanks for reading and see you next Thursday.

- Charlie.

Global CEO, MCG Talent.