It’s me and my LinkedIn profile against the world: SPOILER ALERT, my LinkedIn profile is a slimy traitor
Good morning my little networking intellectuals (I am younger than all of you),
Today is a lovely Wednesday morning and I have neglected to post for the past many many days. This is fine. Mainly because I have been so deeply busy with work, my job, and just generally vegetating in my bed with the radiator on because it’s too cold to do. Anything. Else. But it’s true, as the temperature dips below the double digits, I am increasingly aware of my identity as a brown girl who needs the sunlight to feel any ounce of joy in my life. Suffice it to say, right now everything doesn’t feel very joyful.
But worry not! Because I have spent the past two weeks practically girl bossing my way through the London career network- or more specifically, I have started thinking about and researching internships and jobs within the film industry in London. I’ve taken the help of platforms such as Dots, Bricks Magazine Learner Platform, and, Creative Industries to zone in on internships that I felt would build my skills and maybe- just maybe- NOT MAKE ME LOOK LIKE A LOSER ON LINKEDIN.
Guys, I’m sorry how do you do it? I got on LinkedIn a year ago and only last week did I add my profile photo and change my location to London, because it is HARD OUT THERE MAN. Finding out that my father has 800+ connections on a social media platform is the most depressing thing I’ve experienced this past month because I have THREE. And ALL THREE ARE MY FAMILY MEMBERS.
This is the issue with having a family that could make you a nepo baby/ sibling in the corporate world. These losers (My loving family that has supported me through everything) have some of the most stacked LinkedIn I’ve seen- not just because I refuse to really do much on LinkedIn (It’s for old, uncool people like Elon Musk). They’ve got REVIEWS, they’ve got certifications for Power BI (Whatever that is really), They’ve got CEO in their bio. Y’know what I’ve got? STUDENT.
Now see I know this is my fault. I could have just been a corporate girlie. I could have just hopped on stand-up Zoom calls and submitted mid-year reviews, and idk had an Excel sheet that I stared at from time to time while looking mildly aggravated. I think my family are some of the most intelligent people I know because their work in these corporate spaces is so precise in the skill sets they require- communication, leadership, networking, and other businessy buzzwords like; math, and data and-idfk- PowerPoint templates. They all do very meaningful work. And they are really fkn good at it.
But I for the life of me, cannot do that shit. I’m so sorry to all the Medium writers who write about how to be a better business leader; I wish I could read your posts and ponder on how I can be a better person and leader for my team, and write it down in my notebook and then immediately put those into practice (or as my father would say- Sunday). But I can’t. Sure, there are transferable skills in corporate worlds into creative industries- in fact, my limited knowledge of them actually helped me talk to industry professionals about the corporate aspects of Hollywood- and my parents and sister’s consistent coaching has really made me very good at networking, and looking capable in front of people that matter (Y’know like the cute guy in my seminar and the fashionable girl who complimented the point I made after class). Very important skills- I know.
But at the end of the day, being part of the film industry means I don’t really know how to build lasting connections that will get me consistent employability, and by extension, the promise of consistent unemployment has made it harder for me to wrap my head around using LinkedIn to wow people by my career successes.
It feels kind of stupid, to write “student in London”, “wrote a play for my high school theatre show”, or “know how to edit videos”. It feels much cooler to be like, ooooh “marketing director”, “specialist in [insert thing]”. I just don’t know whether LinkedIn is the right tool for film people. And this isn’t a hot take, I genuinely have no idea whether I’m supposed to be on LinkedIn or there are some obscure, top-secret, creative industries LinkedIn that Martin Scorsese has to personally invite you to for you to be able to make rent.
How am I supposed to use LinkedIn- a platform literally made for networking- when I don’t have much solid and verified experience? And how do I make it look like I’m skilled and competent- instead of just creative, and ‘artsy’? This gets even worse when you pair it with the fact that I don’t really have mentors who are successful in the Creative fields; I’m the first person going into it from my family- and while my family has given me amazing advice so far; it can only help to a certain point.
I don’t know what film people are LOOKING FOR. Like should I get a certification in Premiere Pro- will people take me as seriously if I don’t? How do I make a portfolio that looks legit? How do I make a portfolio if I don’t know what people are looking for?
HELP.
Regardless, something I’m grateful for is the fact that I’m even having these problems. This time last year I was so incredibly jaded, tired, sad, and demotivated that I would have never imagined feeling so passionate about something. I feel so driven that I will ask the nonexistent people who read this for help. So I guess that’s a win. Maybe I can put that in my LinkedIn profile, “ Proficient in her newly regained youthful optimism”. It feels like such a human and young feeling to have- the “fuck what the fuck am I doing” feeling. For someone who spent the last year trying to have feelings other than intense desolation, it’s such a freeing feeling. I love having a normal, basic, and universal feeling. I love feeling seen every time my friend says “Adya, can you read my CV? Idk what tf I’m doing” or “I hate this job, how do I tell my manager that I want to quit”. Am I qualified to be reading her CV when mine has a font size of 13? Probably not. But it’s nice to feel INCLUDED OKAY?
Technically, it should be dystopian. But when the world is falling apart around you, I feel very grateful that my biggest problem is my future job. Some children aren’t even guaranteed a future.
That’s my rant over, hope you enjoyed me yelling at you for the past 5 minutes of you reading this. If you are LinkedIn savvy, or a film industry person- please help me. I am deeply concerned for my future financial and career prospects as I’m basically done with uni in 1.5 years. I can’t afford rent in London on my bartender’s salary let’s be real.
Till next time, I’ll make sure to post on Saturday*.
Much Love,
Adya
(*Notice how I didn’t mention which Saturday- now see this is the kind of intelligence I could bring to a production company pls hire me ❤)
