I like spirited debates and I’ve seen one going around on how a person should indicate their employment status on LinkedIn (this pretty much applies to the resume as well).
One camp’s thought is don’t indicate you aren’t working. Their reasons run from the fallacy that recruiters look harder and think better of the “passive” candidate (employed and not really actively looking) to the concept that if you are unemployed there’s a reason and it’s not good.
The other camp says to shout out that you are unemployed,eager to get back to work, willing to jump through hoops and can start yesterday, in fact, you’re at the door, blackberry in hand.
Let me say up front, my opinions are my own and I base them on having been an executive recruiter placing 100’s of people into great new jobs, but they are still opinions as are others thoughts as well.
As a recruiter, if you send me a resume that says you’re still working and you’re not, we start off badly. When you try to trick me, I don’t trust you from the start. That’s a pretty crappy way to begin a relationship that is all about trust.
If I just get your name somehow and I go to your profile on LinkedIn to “check you out” and it says you’re still employed and I find out you’re not employed when I call you at work, I’m not going to take it personal since now it appears you’re trying to deceive everyone. I’ll be tempted to think maybe it’s because you’re sloppy or lazy and haven’t bothered to update your profile, incompetent because you don’t know how or ashamed because you’re unemployed (or just trying to trick everyone). None of these traits endear you to me either.
People are going to find out you’re not working. Do you honestly think that employers won’t like you to begin with because you’re unemployed but after they meet you and realize you’re either deceptive, inept, sloppy or lazy (or all the above), they’ll like you better? Good luck in your search.
The other extreme, desperation, is just as bad. You shouldn’t shout, scream, buy a billboard, perform in the street mostly naked or anything else to draw attention to yourself. That kind of attention, although great to blog about, isn’t the best possible personal branding image unless you want to work at a theme park or sue some candy maker.
So what do you do? Change your mental perspective. Most people today are out of a job through no fault of their own. Good recruiters and good companies know that. Be honest; your resume and LinkedIn profile should show correct dates of employment.
Keep in mind that simple is better so if you send a resume and enclose a cover letter, just say, “ABC Company restructured, reducing it’s labor force 15%” or “ZED Company exited it’s Ukrainian expansion plans.”
Then there is that little area in LinkedIn under your name where you can update your status. It always starts with your name so write your update accordingly. Some people ignore that area, some scream “Susie needs a job yesterday.” I just updated mine to say, “Brad is writing the last blog of the summer.” If I was a job seeker, I’d be honest (gasp) and write, “Brad is presently seeking a [insert something here like] creative position with a Web 2.0 company focusing on personal branding.” Sorry it’s Friday and I’m not very creative today.
Have a safe and wonderful Labor day and see you after summer.
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