Ageism and LinkedIn in the modern world
I read a post by a gentleman who had bad luck with his latest job search and was contemplating leaving LinkedIn as one result. Amazingly, one reader of the feed replied that he might have something for him, and so, perhaps LinkedIn was a positive contribution after all.
I've been on LinkedIn for years, and for the most part started with low expectations. It has been my observation that the hit rate for jobs is pretty low. I get approached several times a week on average, and the fit for such jobs is usually quite low.
LinkedIn is more of a communication tool, and has a learning curve. There is some aspect of broadcasting a particular business need - recruiters use it to announce open positions all the time. I agree with the poster that there is too much pop psychology, but that is what I call background noise. What I see as signal, rather than noise, is the giant number and variety of posts about Cloud Computing. That was one of the factors that led to my epiphany a few weeks ago about managed services as a revolution.
As we age, our need for stability increases, yet stable positions get more and more rare. The job market continues to be chaotic, and as disruptive revolutions sweep through the market, the interests of employers naturally shifts towards the young. They have less baggage, fewer responsibilities, can and will work longer hours. Employers trade wisdom for energy and volume of work. We live in a metrics-driven world, and employers instinctively go for the hump in the middle of the bell curve.
Older folks need to be thinking about how to gracefully exit the maelstrom of the job market. I personally recommend finding a business you can build up in your spare time. Online businesses can be created on a shoestring, and then trial-and-error must be done to discover what is successful. In this case, wisdom can be of great assistance.
I'd rather look at the difficulties faced by older job seekers as natural consequences of the functioning of the market than ageism. It keeps me from thinking about lawsuits and other silly stuff, and lights a fire under my tail to get on with the business of business.
So, if you are not safely ensconced in a high management position in a very stable company (what's that?), its time to put some thought into how to adapt to the dizzying changes happening all around us. We don't have to like it, and a career painfully built up over years is hard to give up.
The house is on fire, folks. Time to run!
I've been on LinkedIn for years, and for the most part started with low expectations. It has been my observation that the hit rate for jobs is pretty low. I get approached several times a week on average, and the fit for such jobs is usually quite low.
LinkedIn is more of a communication tool, and has a learning curve. There is some aspect of broadcasting a particular business need - recruiters use it to announce open positions all the time. I agree with the poster that there is too much pop psychology, but that is what I call background noise. What I see as signal, rather than noise, is the giant number and variety of posts about Cloud Computing. That was one of the factors that led to my epiphany a few weeks ago about managed services as a revolution.
As we age, our need for stability increases, yet stable positions get more and more rare. The job market continues to be chaotic, and as disruptive revolutions sweep through the market, the interests of employers naturally shifts towards the young. They have less baggage, fewer responsibilities, can and will work longer hours. Employers trade wisdom for energy and volume of work. We live in a metrics-driven world, and employers instinctively go for the hump in the middle of the bell curve.
Older folks need to be thinking about how to gracefully exit the maelstrom of the job market. I personally recommend finding a business you can build up in your spare time. Online businesses can be created on a shoestring, and then trial-and-error must be done to discover what is successful. In this case, wisdom can be of great assistance.
I'd rather look at the difficulties faced by older job seekers as natural consequences of the functioning of the market than ageism. It keeps me from thinking about lawsuits and other silly stuff, and lights a fire under my tail to get on with the business of business.
So, if you are not safely ensconced in a high management position in a very stable company (what's that?), its time to put some thought into how to adapt to the dizzying changes happening all around us. We don't have to like it, and a career painfully built up over years is hard to give up.
The house is on fire, folks. Time to run!
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