This One Irked Me

Recently on LinkedIn I saw a mini article called "What’s behind the latest downtrend in workforce confidence?" It wasn't very interesting (or really long enough to be considered an article) nor did it shed any real light. But of course, I just skimmed through it so I could get to the beloved comments. You know I LOVE the comments. But here's the one that irked me:

One woman (who works for a recruitment agency, if I got it right) offered her advice on the dour job market. And while she didn't claim to have any secret recipes, she said "I can reccommend [sic] a few things based on my experinece [sic]". 

I won't get into them all, it was her #1 that had me agitated and pondering into the wee hours of the night*:

"Operate with kindness and integrity and when you act on public platforms be aware that what you are saying is highly visable [sic]" 

The age of social media and having an online presence has opened up a Pandora's box for many of us. In some cases, it's a bit serious. But in our day-to-day it's fairly benign, such as a nastygram Teams message or HR having to redact a poorly-worded company email or something. We see and hear examples on the news EVERY WEEK about someone screwing up and saying the wrong thing and having to apologize.

But....

Maybe I'm getting too old to care. I'm done walking on eggshells. I love commenting on random posts on all platforms and I admit I love a good verbal fight. Love it. (BTW if you skim the comments section you can see me sparring with a fellow LinkedIn member...he claims the economy is doing great. I ask, "On what planet is this"?) 

Back to the topic at hand: I'm drawing a line in the sand: If some prospective company wants to do an extreme deep dive on my idiotic social media posts, chances are I'd never be a good fit with them anyways. It sure wouldn't last very long relationship before I slipped up. jklol.

Life in the roaring 20s

When I launched this blog last week I sent the link out to a few friends/former co-workers. One of my pals said something to the tune of, "don't go down that downward spiral". I get it...anything snarky or profane can be misunderstood and/or used against me. But the other folks were more of the "hahaha, this is great" camp. So I won't be sending any links to this particular chap in the future. And that will be that. 

Again, maybe this comes with being over 50. I've got less to lose as I age out of this industry. I'll happily accept "lower" jobs if it means I can crack wise online and don't have to worry about the Morality Police wishing me out into the cornfield. I'm starting to not give a shit how "visable" my online persona is, TBH.

"Jesus Christ, it felt good"

 

I feel like the woman driving the truck on that episode** of Black Mirror, I just don't care    anymore. And "not caring" is like slipping off a pair of tight shoes. Because you do see  that's where society is headed, right? If cell phones and online personas dictate our identities and reputations, we're kinda screwed. I'm jealous of the retiring crowd and feel bad for the youngsters just getting into this brave new (stupid) world.

Anyways, I'm happy being a 1.4 star in life and cursing like a truck driver. YMMFV

To wrap this up, at the end of the day, one of the best thing said in this particular thread came from user Nora A: "your success in getting a job is still a matter of who you know". Blunt but TRUE.  So if you're having problems landing work, get off your stupid phone and get out there and network in real life.

*Not really

** If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.