Looking desperate is no longer a red flag – at least on LinkedIn.
Unemployed people who are open for work are now being transparent about their urgent need for a new role, adorning their profiles with a new LinkedIn banner that reads “#Desperate”.
“LinkedIn is a platform that’s designed for networking and connecting with people, and we do it because it’s going to help us in some way,” Courtney Summer Myers, who created the logo, told Fortune.
“So if you need it, why wouldn’t you ask for help?”
Myers, 28, was laid off from her graphic design job in November and has since applied to about 30 jobs a day to no avail, inspiring her to create the bold banner that has since been adopted by a number of workers others “desperate”.
“I’m jumping on the desperate bandwagon,” Hanna McFadyn, 22, wrote on LinkedIn with a photo of her updated profile picture adorned with a banner.
The illustrator and designer told Fortune that she applied to 20 jobs a day after quitting her remote job in April, she told Fortune. Employers often don’t respond to her applications, and when they do, she’s complimented but never offered a role, she said, adding that she’s just looking for work where she can learn from her peers and earn a salary for pay her living expenses. .
“Many companies don’t even state salary on job applications,” the applicant in Glasgow, Scotland, told Fortune. “I live at home with my parents, but I could very well have an apartment and rent to pay. I have mobile bills to cover so I might be in a situation where I really need to know the salary – the fact that they don’t declare it leaves me in the dark.”
And while she’s #Desperate for a job, she also “wouldn’t want to go below” her previous salary.
“We’re still confident enough to say to recruiters, ‘Listen, we know we’re desperate, but they’re not going to play us because of this label,'” she added.
Myers’ original post launching her banner on LinkedIn has garnered more than 400,000 reactions on the platform and sparked mixed reviews. While some users say they “feel” about it, others warn that employers may be wary “of hiring candidates who seem too eager,” a cautionary tale echoed by recruiters in the past.
It’s a headache for unemployed users who want to show potential employers that they’re looking for a job.
“LinkedIn was created for people to… find work. But it doesn’t make sense that recruiters and headhunters won’t talk to you if you put one up [#OpenToWork] up,” 29-year-old Elena Carballo, who recently lost her job and was inspired by Myers’ online post, told Fortune. “It is paradoxical”.
Myers is trying to combat that stigma around job hunting, arguing that the banner is an initial way to let companies know you’re willing to take on a new job, freelance gig or other job.
“If I sit there and pretend that everything is fine, how is anyone going to know that I need a job or some freelance work? How would they know I need help in general, even just a conversation? People are not psychic,” Myers explained.
“Why be ashamed of a situation you’ve been forced into?”
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Image Source : nypost.com