I’ve blurred names and faces to protect the innocent. It’s not their fault LinkedIn does this…
Several years back, I was persuaded to sign up for LinkedIn, on the premise that it would be good for me in my post-newspaper life.
I’ve given it every chance; I really have. I’ve got more than 1,500 connections without having tried all that hard. (I know a lot of people; a lot of people know me.) And I’m sure that any day now, this will come in handy. For something.
But today, as I labor to empty my IN box, I’m wondering about one specific aspect of this thing.
Who congratulates people on their work anniversaries? If you do it, why do you do it? Do you think they want you to? Does anyone have work anniversary celebrations? When you do so, do you worry whether your message will push the recipient into a state of despond, having been reminded that he or she has spent yet another year in that job?
Is this notion of work anniversaries some sort of holdover from when people actually spent whole careers in the same secure jobs, and happily counted down the years until they got that gold watch? Seems to me that the period of time in which LinkedIn has existed corresponds with the years in which more and more of us have been thrown, unwilling, into the gig economy. Is that it? Is the idea that we’re to congratulate the few, the happy (but endangered) few who still have actual jobby-jobs, like Daddy used to have?
I’m just curious whether this is a thing. Or whether LinkedIn is just trying to make it a thing (and, I’m guessing, not succeeding) in a desperate bid for relevance.
All I know is, I’m tired of the emails…
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As for that “Brad, this is what you’ve missed on LinkedIn,” which is no doubt meant to get me all in a sweat to click and FIND OUT…
It’s the 20 year anniversary of Office Space (CONGRATULATIONS!) This “oral history” of the making and cult status attainment of the film just came out the other day and is a really interesting read.
https://www.theringer.com/movies/2019/2/19/18228673/office-space-oral-history
Can you imagine Ben Affleck as the lead actor? or Matt Damon? I found it interesting how many “name” actors were attached or considered for the various roles.
Now THAT is worth celebrating! Why didn’t I get a TPS report about that?
We should all wear Hawaiian shirts and, you know, jeans to work to celebrate…
I’m on linkedin and have been since the earliest days. I don’t find it of much use at all. I’ve perused the job listings occasionally just to see market trends. Or if we have a new customer, I’ll check and see if anyone I know works there. Never paid for the “pro” version which appears to just give you the ability to bug people you don’t know with messages or to stalk people at a deeper level.
I’ve also found that state and local government employees don’t appear to use it… maybe it’s by mandate but not sure. Probably would get tiring seeing all the “Joe Smith is celebrating his 28th year at the Department of Motor Vehicles” (in the same job).
I have tried the premium version, several years ago (my friends at ADCO were kind enough to pay for it), and indeed it does “give you the ability to bug people you don’t know with messages or to stalk people at a deeper level.”
I don’t think I used it to reach out to a single person who was thrilled to hear from me.
We dropped it after a few months. Ironically, this come-on was among the things I found cleaning out my in box today…
The site is helpful the Insurance field.