Job seeking
The LinkedIn newsfeed is bad for our mental health.
Trevor Churchley ·
The LinkedIn newsfeed is bad for your mental health. There - I've said it. Negativity, hype, labels, anxiety everywhere! As a job seeker - this is not helpful. LETS. GET. POSITIVE.
I received a text message from a Talentology alumni member this evening, and she was pissed off! She'd been reading the newsfeed. NAB getting rid of a few thousand employees, other companies doing the same. Ageism affecting older job seekers. Ghosting was everywhere. The negative news was piling up and clearly affecting her.
So, in my true style, I asked her 'so what are the positives?' and went on to explain that restructures constantly happen but, while it's a challenging job market, there are still jobs out there - but bad news creates attention and positive news generally goes unnoticed.
Ageism, ghosting, labels, also have their effect on our mental health. I see people constantly going on about ageism as the reason they can't find a job. But is it? There is no concrete proof and there are plenty of other reasons why recruiters are not getting back to you or why you didn't get the job - too many applicants, poor rapport, nervousness - lots of other reasons.
Controversial labels create attention. They create impressions for LinkedIn content creators. Have you ever noticed that their ageism stories don't name anyone - always anonymous? Made up stories perhaps to attract attention? Certainly no proof. But these stories get inside people's heads and creates false justification and validation for why people are being unsuccessful.
I read a post of an 'Ageism Advocate' earlier today who said he heard from a guy who spoke to a recruiter that shelves all resumes from people over 50. No names, little context. Third-hand conversation. He closed the post with selling his services. Shocking and scaring people into action.
Stop. Please. Stop.
I can give you lots of positive stories where +45 year old have successfully secured work, with multiple people in their 60s - the eldest being 68 and he secured his next role within 10 weeks of playing our Hustle Game...but hustling!
As a job seeker, negativity holds us back from being successful. Think about it - who wants to hire someone who is negative?
But everyone loves a positive job seeker. They are the easy-to-place job seekers who stand a much better chance of getting a job.
So here's my advice. AVOID the LinkedIn newsfeed deathscroll. Avoid the negative spiral. Control what you can control and understand that job search failure is part of the process towards success. And when you experience failure, ask yourself 'what was the positive here?'. There is always one....at least.
Stay positive peeps. Rise above the crap.
Talentology AU
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Job Seeker Café every Friday and The Hustle Game Bootcamp every second Wednesday. Free, online, with Trevor.
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