FYI: Identity Verification Is Now a Thing on LinkedIn

Wouldn't it be crazy if recruiters knew, it was really you behind a LinkedIn profile? Let's be honest some LinkedIn accounts are just a total scam, some people only have a registered account because it allows them to look up information about other people and companies on the platform but, this might change soon.

LinkedIn is giving you a chance to go verified, giving you a bit of pro-features without the need of paying a subscription. This is me, assuming only legit accounts go pro, something that is very debatable.

The screenshot above is a preview of what my account may look like after going #verified. The badge on my photo would show, and also giving you the opportunity to know where I'm from because my country of birth, or current nationality which would also be visible to the public before any interaction whatsoever which I believe is classic. Why not give that away, right?

The process behind identity verification

It is 2024 and chances are that your passport or ID is NFC compatible. NFC stands for Near Field Communication Chip. In simple terms, this chip contains information about you, the document holder, making it ideal for document verification.

If you have an NFC compatible document, what is required of you is a scan of your passport photo page, the NFC chip as well as a selfie of yourself. Persona is behind this process, the company in collaboration with LinkedIn to help users get their accounts verified, allowing their users to get 60% more profile views on average.

In exchange for verification, users need to forfeit passport or ID information as well as images and a photograph of themselves, which persona retains for at least 30 days. After this, the data is then shared to LinkedIn and the rest should be clear from here.

For those of us worried about the information we might be sharing with both companies, if you're one who has shared your CV, phone number and other personal information on the platform then, nothing about this is unknown to the platform. Interesting enough, some people have their own CV as part of their profile, something I believe to be too much information.

A verified account can be considered a synonym for trusted, and reliable in this case. If you go verified, then you have provided all the necessary data for LinkedIn to consider your account to be legit.

Recruitment and reliability for verified accounts

Before we proceed with the theory I'm about to present, there is one little detail I forgot to mention earlier and that is your profile name in comparison with your real name, the one that shows on your government issued document.

Unless your profile name matches your ID document, there is no way for you to go verified. Safe are, the users who made it clear as soon as they registered on the platform and used their real names so that they're easily reachable on the platform. Of, course changes can be made on your profile to overcome this part of the process.

My profile name is not exactly what shows on my identity document, I actually used "Sam Writes Security" sometime in the past on LinkedIn as well, crazy right? I know what people usually use LinkedIn for and my reason at the time was to share my writing on a different platform hence, SWS. I eventually changed this into my real (first name).

It still doesn't match my ID document and this might become a problem once this becomes a requirement, but I'll wait.

Considering the 60% visibly in comparison with non-verified accounts, your profile will get way more attention in comparison with your peers. And, because it is verified, you're likely to get a chance for an interview compared to those who haven't done this, as those people might still need to prove that they are who they claim to be first.

Who needs Google Docs when LinkedIn has millions of verified accounts? All the information after most of the accounts on the platform go verified. LinkedIn will be all you need to find someone online. Information gathering and reconnaissance will be a walk in the park.