Rant #2,450: Chains

Yes, I am bound by chains.

I am bound by the chains that the current world order has decided that all job seekers be tied down by, and that means that I must use Linked In the try to gain a job.

I learned that yesterday, as I went to a course on the social networking/job seeking site, a three-hour course where myself and 29 other people who are out of work were told that this is the way we MUST go to find work in 2019 and into the future.

Personally, I have been on Linked In, even set up my own site several years ago, really, Just on a whim. I didn't really put too much credence in such a site; to me, it looked like a slightly elevated version of Facebook, but geared to pretty much bragging about your job and your accomplishments in that job.

I never even put a picture in my profile, or even tried very hard to talk about what I was doing and my accomplishments doing it.

Well yesterday, I found out just how important Linked In actually is. I found out that through your connections, and connections to other connections, one can electronically network to find a job.

There are also job listings on there that one can apply for. Companies are bypassing the usual job search sites and posting on Linked In, which I have to admit is interesting unto itself, and might be the best reason to get your profile up and running on Linked In.

You first write up your profile, but don't make it a carbon copy of what is on your resume. You want to engage anybody who is looking at it, so you use more conversational language, almost like what you do in your cover letter.

You tell people what you have done, what your accomplishments were and are, and then, through once connection or another, you might be able to engage someone to take even a closer look at you.

Sure, I am giving you pretty much a thumbnail sketch of what Linked In is, but honestly, that really and truly is what it is.

Unlike on Facebook, where you consciously or subconsciously try to sell a point of view, on Linked Im, you are trying to sell yourself.

I get all that.

However, the reality of the current world order was reflected in the class I attended yesterday.

There were 30 people who attended--a full class--and of the 30, each and every person was out of work after having worked anywhere from about 15 to 30 years in their last job.

And each and every one of us was over 50 years old.

I know this because we had to introduce ourselves to our fellow classmates-for-a-day before we got down to learning about Linked In.

That told me all I needed to know about the current world order. You can have the greatest resume, the greatest background, the greatest profile, but the reality is that the older worker--or what is considered to be "older" in today's millennial-obsessed world--is at a competitive disadvantage from the get go.

Even our instructor told us that there will be inborn prejudices when people look at our Linked In profile and in particular, our photo, but it is better to have a photo on your profile than not because it has been proven to get you more looks than not having one.

So I have to put up a photo on Linked In, and it has to be professional and current.

Look, we all know that this is a shell game, and like they say, you have to be in it to win it.

It has been deemed a requirement to be on Linked In by the new world order, so you have to be on it, or be damned.

The world has changed, you can't go about looking for work the same way you did it 10, 20, or 30 years ago. It just doesn't work anymore the old way. You MUST DO IT THIS WAY, or you will lose out.

So I have found that you have to play the game whether you like it or not. One on one communication has gone out the window, and electronic communication is the way to go right now.

I don't particularly embrace this way of doing things--I spoke to others there who refuse to go on any social media site because these sites are too all-encompassing--but it is what it is, and if this is the way to do it, then I have to love it, whether I really do or not.

So please, visit my Linked In page. Just type in my name, and you will find it. Maybe you can help me. Maybe you know someone who can help me. Maybe not.