LinkedIn Made Me Feel Unwanted This Week
The company’s email was especially discouraging
Does seeing zero searches also make you feel like I’m unwanted at this point? It’s discouraging to see this. I mean, yeah, I know I’m not actively looking for work since I’m unable to work. But it still feels good to be wanted sometimes.
In most weeks, I get at least 1 or 2 searches. There are even weeks when I get dozens of people searching for me just based on my past work experience.
I think I’ve made it very clear at this point that I can’t work and am not actively looking for work on my LinkedIn profile. The thing is, seeing a flat zero regardless of my situation becomes a bit deflating when I realize that my best days are behind me.
Even the headhunters realize this now. It’s been almost six years out of the corporate world. Six years of living within my limitations. Six years of finding my new place in the world without being able to work.
LinkedIn keeps me plugged into the happenings of the corporate world without having to endure the grind. LinkedIn shows me what I’m missing from former coworkers. It shows me new technologies, new advancements in certain fields, and a variety of insights — some good, some bad, but mostly a ton of stuff I can’t do anymore.
I hope I can rejoin the workforce someday. It’s a long shot at this point but I’m still holding out hope. That’s probably why I still kept my LinkedIn profile despite not having an official position at any job. It feels like a Facebook for professionals.
I don’t use Facebook much anymore either but I still go on every once in a while to see what old coworkers, old friends, and extended family are doing from a distance. Peeking at the LinkedIn posts from the people I’ve connected with there feels very much like Facebook stalking professional contacts.
Sometimes I feel like I’m out of my depth there. I don’t feel like I have a place there since I don’t work and feel like an impostor even maintaining a profile. The thing is, when I do this and search and interact there, I usually get a few hits to my profile.
This week, I snooped around a bit. Did my normal routine. Nothing. I got zero hits.
It’s the first time in a long time. Am I finally losing the momentum I thought I had even after leaving corporate America six years ago? Are people finally going to forget about me as I stay in this current chapter of my professional status — disabled, unemployed, and unable to work?
I am holding out hope that I am not completely forgotten. I am holding out hope that this is not the end of a chapter where people still care enough to check up on me. Do they still want the limited set of skills I developed and acquired over my professional and educational life?
For at least this week, it seems that no one wants me anymore. I won’t see it as a trend, but a fluke, but I should at least temper my expectations going forward. It becomes harder and harder to stay marketable the longer you’re out of work. I want to stay relevant and stay educated in case I can ever return but right now I guess I understand why zero is a number I should start getting used to.
