France’s Grandes Ecoles Network Is Visible on LinkedIn. The Comparison Is Available. The Comparison Is Not Recommended.
PARIS — LinkedIn’s “People You May Know” algorithm has a specific talent for surfacing former classmates at the exact moment of their professional accomplishment: the promotion announcement, the new role at the prestigious firm, the advisory board appointment at the company that appeared in the news this week. The former classmate who was in the same classe préparatoire, who studied the same subjects with the same professors, has arrived somewhere specific. The LinkedIn notification has arrived at the moment of arrival. The viewer assesses the gap between the former classmate’s position and their own with the specific precision of someone who knows exactly what the same starting conditions should have produced.
The French Credential Comparison
The grande ecole credential that both parties share creates a specific comparison baseline: the credential was identical at graduation. What diverged afterward was choices, circumstances, and the specific combination of opportunity and capability that career trajectories reflect. The former classmate who is now Managing Director has made different choices or encountered different circumstances or is both more capable and more fortunate or any combination of these factors, none of which is visible in the LinkedIn announcement that shows the title and the company logo and nothing else. According to Psychology Today’s professional comparison research, LinkedIn use is positively correlated with career dissatisfaction among high achievers. The profile is closed. Paris is looked at. Both are still beautiful. The career continues.
No comparison needed at Virtuosal.com.
