Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

LinkedIn’s product evolution and the art of building complex systems | Hari Srinivasan (LinkedIn)

July 16, 2023

AI Summary

5 min read

Hari Srinivasan, VP of Product for LinkedIn's Talent Solutions (hiring and learning products), discusses how the company builds interconnected marketplaces guided by a single North Star: connecting people to economic opportunity. He covers shifts in hiring practices, feed improvements, tactics for job seekers, and processes for managing product complexity.

Operating with a Clear North Star

All decisions at LinkedIn tie back to helping members access economic opportunity, simplifying choices across feeds, hiring, learning, and profiles. This principle overrides competing priorities like engagement or revenue, with metrics focused on outputs such as hires made and time spent learning skills. "Members first" ensures trust by prioritizing job seekers and learners over recruiters or enterprises when conflicts arise.

Shifts in the Hiring Marketplace

COVID accelerated skills-first hiring, where profiles translate experiences into transferable skills (e.g., hospitality workers matching 70% of customer service needs), now used by 47% of recruiters. Job seekers increasingly filter by values or interests like AI, beyond titles. Features like Open to Work evolved from private signals to public frames, reducing stigma, with a new internal version testing similar dynamics.

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What you'll learn

1 *(00:00:24) **COVID-era hiring crisis and skills-first pivot***
2 *(00:06:55) **LinkedIn feed evolution to opportunity-focused***
3 *(00:12:20) **Talent Solutions overview: hiring and learning marketplaces***
4 *(00:16:44) **Hiring market shifts and job seeker tips***
5 *(00:28:38) **LinkedIn culture: North Star and members first***
6 *(00:35:55) **Building and operating complex ecosystems***
7 *(00:43:17) **LinkedIn Learning and PM course lessons***

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Show Notes

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Hari Srinivasan is VP of Product at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, where he oversees LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn Jobs, and LinkedIn Learning. He’s also a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University. Previously, he served as the CEO and founder of We Created It, which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2014. Hari has a passion for building products, with experience ranging from creating the first U.S. hybrid SUV to developing a No. 1 app and writing a beloved children’s book. In today’s episode, we discuss:

• LinkedIn’s unique business model and org structure

• How to optimize your LinkedIn experience and improve your chances of getting a PM role

• How to adapt to a skills-first talent market

• The story of Hari’s failed first product review, and how he pivoted for success

• Strategies for building and maintaining complex systems

• How to get into product management

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linkedins-product-evolution-and-the

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Where to find Hari Srinivasan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsrinivasan1/

• Website: https://www.mindofhari.com/