I ran across a post on LinkedIn yesterday from a guy who had been out of work for four months. He had applied to 98 jobs, gotten callbacks from a few of them, but no interviews. What am I doing wrong, he asked. “I’m getting desperate!”
His story was not all that surprising. What bothered me more was the responses that he got from other LInkedIn users.
When I ran across the post, it had nearly fifty replies. The vast majority of them were people going on about how he needed to adjust his cover letter, or adjust his resume for each individual job posting. Others told him to take courses or look for internships to boost his credentials and qualifications.
Around the 30-reply mark, the LInkedIn recruiter vultures began circling.
Only a few of the replies—fewer than five—fell into the category of “Wow, that sucks, the job market is terrible.” I feel like LinkedIn is a special sort of hell populated by optimization cultists. The reason you can’t find a job is that you’re not good enough—make yourself better. The reason you’re not happy in your current job is that you’re going about it wrong—be more efficient and productive.