Job announcements

and other annoying things

Image by GraphicMama-team from Pixabay

It seems that I can’t go more than two days without seeing a tweet or a Linkedin post that reads something like:

I’m delighted to announce that I am taking up the post of head of <something> at <organisation name> next month.

Sometimes it’s a bit more subtle — not much, but a bit:

Just to let folks know that I’m starting as head of <something> at <organisation name> next month.

I don’t see how an announcement like that can be anything other than a not-so-humble brag. Otherwise, what’s the point of it? The people you work with know. The people you are going to be working with know, or soon will. Anyone (like clients) you’ve been dealing with will know as soon as they receive the out-of-office reply that you will (or should) set up on you last day.

Even if you have decided to ditch the 9-5 and go freelance, you still don’t need to say anything in my experience. The last time I had a ‘proper’ job I scheduled a full team meeting straight after the regular weekly meeting with my line manager. I told my manager that I had decided to resign with effect from whenever. He was disappointed but understood why I wanted to (all positive reasons, I hasten to point out!) and we shook hands on it.

I then told my team, as I wanted them to hear it from me (and my reasons) rather than getting a half-true account via the grapevine. I then left straight away and headed for a conference. As soon as I walked through the door, someone said to me, “I hear you’ve handed in your notice. I’d like to offer you some work.”

Thus it seems to me that if you’re good at your job and are well-known in your area, word of mouth will do more for you than any humble bragging. And if you’re not good at your job, or do not have many connections in your field, what’s the point of a public announcement anyway? I mean, who’s going to see it, or even want to see it?

On the subject of connections, in my opinion Linkedin has really deteriorated over the years. I liked the idea of a professional social network rather than the usual fare. I benefitted (possibly) from having received many recommendations and, theoretically, from having a lot of connections. (It looks good anyway, I suppose.)

However, in all these years (fifteen I think) I have only received one potential job offer. Admittedly I probably haven’t made the best use of Linkedin. I don’t post original articles there or comment very often on other people’s articles. I’ve set up a thing whereby when I post an article on one of my websites it gets mentioned in Linkedin. It works to some degree: the other week I had a grand total of twelve views. We all have our limits, and posting blogs frequently, and tweeting somewhat less frequently, is mine. I can’t spend time on Linkedin too.

While I don’t receive job offers through Linkedin, what I do receive a lot of is invitations to connect from people with a bio that reads something like “Driving your agenda forward to maximise your impact.” I never connect with those people because I’m not interested in driving anything except a car.

I also seem now to get sold to as soon as I’ve connected with someone. Not all the time, but enough to make me wary of connecting with anybody I don’t already know or know of. Quite frankly, I think it’s dishonest to present yourself as, say, an author, who, presumably, wants to connect with a fellow writer for mutual support and tips, and then as soon as someone connects with you to then send them an automated message inviting them to buy your latest book. Listen: I’ve seen your website listed in your bio, so if I want to buy your latest book I will. No need to abuse my trust by trying to sell to me before we have any kind of relationship.

I was going to write: imagine if someone did that in real life. Then I remembered that it has actually happened to me in real life. It had the effect of hastening my retreat to a different part of the room.

Bottom line: Linkedin is becoming less and less attractive to me. I think it may be only a matter of time before I dump it.