Ms Ali Cudby spends a lot of time on LinkedIn, using the platform to network and find clients for her customer-retention business. But lately, she finds herself caught in what many users describe as a growing generational divide on the website.

The Gen X entrepreneur from Boston, who has an MBA from Wharton, is turned off by the barrage of performative content from hustle-culture influencers and artificial intelligence-generated “thought leadership”, not to mention the pet and vacation photos that increasingly populate her feed.

With her engagement numbers dropping, she recently consulted a social media expert, who advised her to post “more personal stuff” to increase her visibility. But it does not come naturally.

“That feels really inauthentic to me,” she said.

Ms Cudby’s dilemma is increasingly common for the job seekers and ambitious professionals who have long used LinkedIn to hunt for work and build their networks. The job market has been sluggish for months and unemployment is rising as recession fears bubble to the surface, pushing more and more people to dust off their resumes and post on the Microsoft-owned website.

At the same time, AI has turbocharged the job market, allowing candidates to apply to hundreds of roles and upping the pressure to stand out online. All the while, a generational shift is taking place as a more digitally open, confessional Gen Z gets into the job market. It is prompting a debate for long-time users: How far is too far on LinkedIn?

“The tips we give everyone are the same: Come to LinkedIn ready to give back – help people on their economic paths by sharing what you know about work topics that matter to you,” said Mr Dan Roth, editor-in-chief and vice-pre...