I have been using LinkedIn since 2009 when I worked at Monster.com as a Social Media Ninja. Yes, that was my real job title. I was reminded of that timeline a few weeks ago as I looked through my contacts to see who I knew to invite to an upcoming event. As I searched keywords, I saw a name that looked so familiar to me. I didn’t know why. When I clicked “message” I realized why. I met them at a conference. We emailed for the first time over 15 years ago.
That makes me feel old. But it also reminded me of the good ol’ days when you could send a witty message and almost guarantee a response on LinkedIn. Marketing wasn’t all about influencers and reach. Just people trying to talk to other people, sometimes with singing telegrams and donuts just to get the first call. It was the best of times.
Today on LinkedIn, you can still send witty messages. You just have to dig through a pile of spam and sales posts to find the people you actually know. You’re also less likely to get any attention at all through all the noise.
It’s also the place where I get to learn from great people who are willing to share teach me something all the time. Folks who open a role then post step by step how they took a pile of resumes from 1400 to 100. People who write and tell stories to help us imagine a new world of work. People who inspire me all the time.
So this week, I want to take a moment to highlight those teachers in our community and encourage all of you to follow their feeds.
Top HR & Recruiting Voices to Follow on LinkedIn in 2026
- Mason Calaiaro – Mason is a recruiter and shares the tools and roadblocks she’s seeing in real time. What I love is the eternal dose of positivity and practicality in all of her messages.
- Bonnie Dilber – You might already know Bonnie, but I just found her late last year. She is also doing real work and posting real feedback. Most of all, she has solid helpful resources – especially on AI. The last time she shared some webinars, I signed up for every single one. No lie.
- Katie Achille – Katie is a bad ass weightlifter but if you follow her on LinkedIn, you’ll see that she also has a unique POV on all things HR technology. If you are interested in well-researched updates and the most important HR tech news, she’s the person I’d recommend first. Her newsletter is so good.
- T. Tara Turk-Haynes – Tara is writing one of the most unique newsletters out there. It’s fiction meets real life with characters you love to hate. For recruiters who learn best by seeing others do it, you need this newsletter.
- Jeremy Lyons – Jeremy is one of the good guys and he goes out of his way to make resources available to all of us. His weekly roundup is so good and I appreciate the conversations he starts on LinkedIn.
- Stacey Nordwall – What I appreciate most about Stacey is that she always provides the ethical and legal guide rails for testing Ai for recruiting. It lets people try new tools without the fear of accidentally leaking their data to the internet.
- Lauren V. Davis – Everyone started talking about personal branding all of a sudden and Lauren is the OG. She also hosts a mastermind for creators that I’m in. I love it.
- Dani Herrera – I got to meet Dani at RecFest and it only made me a bigger fan. She’s smart. She listens to everything that’s happening out there, and her posts reflect the trends you might not see but need to pay attention to.
- Kieran Snyder – I have been a fan of Kieran for a long time because whatever she presents, there’s always data behind it. She also does a really great job of noting when the data is just an outlier unlike some PR companies.
- TJ Scott – TJ and I met in Michigan many years ago and early last year, I subscribed to his Substack newsletter. I was reminded all over again why I enjoyed our conversation so much. He’s funny, smart, and specific with advice. It’s a perspective that recruiters and job seekers need to hear.
If you think there’s someone great out there that I should follow (yourself included), just hit comment and share their LinkedIn URL or connect with me. Add a note and tell me you saw this post! I’d love to connect with all of you who take the time to read these blogs each week.
I’ll see you on LinkedIn.