Why it's OK to shout out family members on LinkedIn

• CEO Brendan Ripp's LinkedIn post helped his cousin secure job interviews quickly.
• Willingness to advocate for a relative on the platform is a signal it's becoming less formal.
• It can be a good thing to share with your network that a relative needs a job, experts said.

Brendan Ripp is a CEO. He's also a proud relative.

In December, Ripp shared with his LinkedIn network that a cousin who'd recently graduated magna cum laude was looking for a job.

"Anyone in my advertising & marketing networks hiring smart kids out of college?" Ripp, head of the audience-development platform Pushly, wrote before linking to his cousin's post about earning her degree.

It was the first time Ripp, who's often pressed for time running a young company, had shared with his more than 8,500 LinkedIn followers that someone he knew well was seeking work, he told Business Insider.

"This felt like the best and fastest way that I could provide assistance and yield a result," Ripp, who lives outside New York City, said.

Within two days of the post, his cousin had three interviews lined up, Ripp, 48, said.

Networking on LinkedIn has been central to the platform from the start. Yet anecdotal evidence suggests that the pandemic-tinged informality that's taken hold in so many workplaces — think athleisure at the office — has also seeped into how we network on LinkedIn.

While several posts on the platform about users' personal lives have gone viral — finding B2B sales lessons in a marriage proposal might be asking too much — when it comes to the friends and family posts, workplace observers told BI it's broadly a good thing.

"That's old-school Rolodex networking. We're just bringing it to the internet," Maria Ross, an empathy researcher and the author of the book "The Empathy Dilemma," said.

Ross told BI that some LinkedIn users' willingness to get a bit more personal stems, in part, from a collective experience over the past five years.

"What we've learned in the pandemic was that we can't park our humanity at the door," she said.

'She's dope. She's amazing.'

If you have someone you feel called to help find a job by posting on LinkedIn, do it, Jasmine Escalera, a career expert with MyPerfectResume, told BI, adding that it's time to throw out "old-school narratives."

She said that as long as people are truthful in what they write, there shouldn't be an issue announcing that your niece has graduated from college and saying, "She's dope. She's amazing. You should hire her."

Josh Bersin, CEO of the Josh Bersin Company, a human resources advisory firm, told BI that because LinkedIn users don't operate anonymously, they should mean what they say if they make a laudatory pronouncement on someone's behalf.

"The reason LinkedIn has survived so well is because it's honest. You can't put a fake name on there. Your reputation goes with you," he said.

A LinkedIn spokesperson told BI that the platform doesn't have data on how often people help out relatives with networking appeals and endorsements.

'Work-adjacent' posts

Bob Gruters, a father of four, is a fan of the friends and family post. The 56-year-old executive turned to LinkedIn to share when his oldest son graduated, got a job, and was promoted. Gruters also issued professional huzzahs on the platform when his other sons nabbed internships.

Gruters, who's president at ReachTV in St. Petersberg, Florida, recently reposted his daughter's announcement that she'd earned her undergraduate degree and would begin a program to become a physician assistant.

"This human of ours dreams big and then makes them come true," he wrote.

Gruters, a former Facebook exec, told BI that the accomplishments he posts about on behalf of his family are "work-adjacent."

Gruters's posts about family members have often elicited friendly responses, he said. People have offered to introduce Gruters's sons or daughter to those already at a school or workplace.

"That's what we all used to do. We used to network," Gruters said. "LinkedIn, in its best form, is a way for us to professionally connect and link and network."

Gruters said that posting about these "big moments" in his family life is a window into what drives him as a businessperson. Letting connections know about these milestones also makes sense because many colleagues have, in some way, played a role, he said.

"Every boss I've had has contributed to my life," Gruters said.

However, he said the LinkedIn announcements he sometimes sees about birthdays and the like are better suited to other platforms.

Craving connection

Christie Smith, who's held leadership roles at Deloitte, Apple, and Accenture and is coauthor of the book "Essential," told BI that before they post on behalf of someone, LinkedIn users should consider their employers' norms regarding advocating for relatives. Yet, generally, she thinks it's a good thing to see people lifting up others on LinkedIn.

"People are craving connection and community, and that's part of why we're seeing more transparency," she said.

Ross, the empathy researcher, said a willingness to help others, even those in their family, is part of a broader shift toward being more open about once-taboo subjects like mental health, even on a professional platform like LinkedIn.

"The authenticity is good," she said. "You're not just some faceless EVP from a company, but I get to know you."

There can be risks

When someone on LinkedIn endorses a relative, it risks coming across as "cheesy," Randall Peterson, a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School, told BI. Yet, he said, it's not unethical the way lying on a résumé would be.

Plus, there's the conundrum that often faces people at the start of their careers: It's hard to get a great job without experience. That's where an online boost, even from a relative, might help, Peterson said.

"If it's no endorsements or one from somebody who is related to you, maybe you want that one because that's all you've got," he said.

Ripp, the CEO who went to LinkedIn to help his cousin, said she's had interviews with a half dozen employers she connected with.

That's proof, he said, that his 38-word post, which drew nearly 5,000 impressions and more than 60 "likes," was more effective than sending a handful of emails to connections who might be hiring.

"I was incredibly overwhelmed and surprised by the response," Ripp said.