The new jobs portal, which operates as an app, is “designed to help Chinese mainland professionals find jobs and companies discover great talent in China,” said Mohak Shroff, senior vice-president of engineering at LinkedIn, in a post on LinkedIn’s official blog.
The app is available on desktop and mobile for iOS and Android devices.
Social media features that have been removed include the ability to share opinions and news stories, but LinkedIn profiles will remain visible to members outside mainland China and brands will have access to advertising to encourage commercial growth and professional networking.
The app, in order to comply with China’s Personal Information Protection Law, makes use of the platform conditional upon agreeing to a “China privacy policy addendum” that says the company “only collects and processes your sensitive personal information when you choose to opt-in and uses strict security measures when processing any sensitive personal information.”
The launch of InCareer “is just the beginning”, said Shroff. “Over the coming months we will build on this foundation, with feedback from our members and customers, to develop a world-class experience.”
Some Chinese users of the service, however, have expressed dissatisfaction.
Weibo user Zhengguozhiyu described InCareer as “castrated” reports the South China Morning Post, adding, “Not only does the app not support article posting, it also lacks a search function that lets users browse other people’s background…The internet, as I had imagined, shouldn’t be like this in the 21st century.”
Another Weibo user questioned the point of InCareer given the ubiquitous presence of WeChat. “If I can add contacts [on InCareer] only by searching with their mobile number or scanning their QR code…I can just add people on WeChat. What’s InCareer for then?”
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