Adding heft:The LinkedIn community in India has touched more than 92 million members, says the company.ReutersReuters

In the last two years, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, about 28 million Indians joined the professional networking platform LinkedIn, a senior company official said. India has also emerged as the fastest-growing country for the platform in terms of engagement globally.

“At 64 million members in 2020, the LinkedIn community stands at a whopping over 92 million members in India today — a 44% growth in members since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Ashutosh Gupta, India country manager, LinkedIn, said in an interview.

Mr. Gupta also added that the company’s revenue in India, which was the second- biggest market for the company in terms of users after the U.S., also witnessed a growth of 84% from the years FY20 to FY22.

Talking about the evolution of conversations on the platform, Mr. Gupta said when the company started, the value proposition it offered was around jobs, and that still remained the biggest value proposition why people came to LinkedIn.

Multiple other dimensions had been added to that value proposition — for example, business networking and learning new skills, which picked up very strongly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“How people engage on LinkedIn has evolved due to so many peoples’ personal and professional lives blurring during the pandemic,” he said. “We are seeing more personal, vulnerable stories and conversations emerge — but very much through the professional / workplace lens,” he said.

“When you think about professionals, it is a very big term. What do you mean by a professional? Are cricketers not professionals or when I go on a vacation and I am sharing that with my business network, is that not a professional conversation? So that envelope has expanded a little bit,” he added.

He also pointed out the firm was focussing on encouraging skill-based hiring via LinkedIn Learning, which saw a ‘huge’ surge in demand during the pandemic.

“Traditionally, we have been hiring using a template… I need somebody from this college, should have done this work… We don’t always focus on skills. We are trying to shift the focus to skills,” Mr. Gupta said.

“LinkedIn Learning plays a big role. As soon as you complete a course, you can add that skill on your profile. But recruiters’ also need to change. Now, when recruiters enter search on LinkedIn, profiles that come are based on skills match.”

We are seeing more personal, vulnerable stories and conversations emerge via the workplace lens

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