These months of job searching have made one thing clear: an online presence is almost mandatory.
And not just a simple “use the appropriate platforms to get in touch with your future employer.”
But the fact that you need to be relevant online.
Let me explain better.
In a moment of “job market crisis” like the one we’re experiencing today, with a saturated market for various reasons - over-employment during the COVID pandemic and the arrival of LLMs as a kind of philosopher’s stone for hyper-productivity - the only way to reach job positions is to be visible.
The holy grail of networking is hard to do in person… conferences are expensive, cool events only happen in a few cities, and the human interaction that was needed to build connections and possible contacts outside your closest circle has been eroded by years of remote working.
And so you have to work on your image on the web.
Personal branding and shitposting for virality.
And for someone like me, who is trying to move toward a social media detox, this is torture, just dressed up nicely.
Almost a year ago I deleted Twitter and a few months ago I deleted Facebook. The next step is Instagram.
But this space is now being taken over by LinkedIn and Reddit in my ongoing struggle to find a new job.
And so I find myself, once again, wandering around on social media.
I hope to find other solutions in the coming months, but for now it seems like I can’t do otherwise.
And the hunt continues :)