Back in December 2021, LinkedIn launched its InCareer website (previously InJobs during testing) in China. This service was a replacement for the full LinkedIn experience in the country, which Microsoft decided to close. LinkedIn is now moving a step further and pulling out of China entirely (at least in terms of offering an app) by also sunsetting the InCareer app.
In a blog post to announce the closure, CEO Ryan Roslansky says the decision was taken to streamline services: “With the market and customer demand fluctuating more, and to serve emerging and growth markets more effectively, we are expanding the use of vendors,” Mr Roslansky wrote.
Rolansky adds that while LinkedIn will not have a consumer-facing app in China the company will continue to operate in the country:
“LinkedIn will continue to have a presence in China and will focus on assisting companies operating in China to access economic opportunity through our Talent and Marketing solutions, and later this year through our Learning Solutions.”
Managing Chinese Regulations to Remain in the Country
This ends a 10-year run for LinkedIn in China. The app entered the country in 2014 before Microsoft paid $26 billion to acquire the company. For the most part, the experience in China was the same as the app in other regions.
If you are familiar with Chinese laws, that is quite an achievement. In China, the government wants to have access to apps and prevents a lot of features in many platforms. Microsoft says keeping up with Chinese regulations became more work than is worth it.
However, the InCareer app was put in place as a way for the company to provide some of its services in China. It was a limited version of LinkedIn with a focus on jobs.
Ending InCareer and No LinkedIn in China
It does not seem the decision to close InCareer is directly related to regulations in China. As part of Microsoft’s decision to lay off 10,000 employees, LinkedIn has cut some of its workforce. The decision to close InCareer is the company simply prioritizing which jobs to slash. Over 700 workers in the InCareer division will lose their jobs.
Roslansky says the release of those 700+ workers will result in 250 new jobs in other regions. The CEO adds that it will add new workers to sales, operations, and support teams and employees from InCareer are eligible to apply.
Tip of the day: The Windows Sandbox gives Windows 10/11 Pro and Enterprise users a safe space to run suspicious apps without risk. In our tutorial we show you how to enable the Windows Sandbox feature.
