Real Question: Do people actually LOVE LinkedIn??

Okay, here's the situation: 

(My parents went away on a week's vacation and they left the keys to the brand new Porche...)

I have an account on LinkedIn because apparently that's what one does. 

When I first set it up, I saw it as a joke so my profile picture was a snap from play rehearsal where I was a convicted arsonist, wearing an orange jumpsuit and everything.

Still one of my favorite pictures ever taken of me.

Anyhoo, I made my profile with absolute irony because the idea that there would be a "social media" site dedicated to people's professions just seemed impossible to me.

Over time, it's gotten a lot busier over there. I'm more plugged in at the moment because James is looking for a job, and I like to keep on top of contacts' businesses who might be hiring.

The thing is, NO ONE over there is doing anything ironically. People pontificate about their professional life and the culture around their careers with an absolute earnestness that is completely foreign to me. 

This is probably a personality flaw in me and if you've ever worked with me, you probably already know this: I have never given much of a crap about any profession I've ever engaged in.

I mean, I am an overachiever and believe that if I'm being paid, I should do my absolute best. I'll sometimes even go above and beyond. AND it's devastating if you have a reliable source of income that dries up.

In that way, I'm kind of a model employee. 

But am I passionate about private home rentals? Do I want to read more about the trends in residential leasing? No never not one bit and the only time I've pursued this type of thing is when it was required for continuing education credits.

Now... I understand about networking. D is wanting a more administrative job than what they're doing at Ross. When I was thinking about the office job's I've had, they were ALL gotten because someone knew someone: Boyfriend's mom knew architects who needed a receptionist; dad was the HR manager of the parent company where the newspaper advertising department needed a gopher, mom's friend from church worked at an employment agency who placed me at Terra West, and a friend saw online that I was needing work so invited me to join their insurance agency.

Is that basically what LinkedIn is? 

And if so, why are people so adamant about creating consistent and lengthy content?

Does that really help when you're job searching?

If you're a LinkedIn connoisseur, I need to know: Is this an enjoyable part of your career building or is it just a necessary evil? Please enlighten me.

 

Professional Renewal

My insurance license is up for renewal, and over the past couple of years, I've had the "opportunity" (responsibility, duty, state mandate) to take some continuing education courses. Of course, I've learned a lot, and some of the classes are really interesting (and some are like those defensive driving classes you have to take when you get a ticket... or so I've heard, because I have never gotten a ticket - at least not according to my driving record), but what has often struck me most is something about me. (Are you surprised? This is my blog, after all.)

Somehow, over and over in my life, I find myself involved in what I consider to be "professional" careers. I have a great phone demeanor; seriously, I have won an award for it. But I'm not what I would consider to be a serious, business-minded person. I don't know how I kept my job at Terra West for as long as I did. I have a hunch that I amused Darlene and she kept me around to see what I'd do next. How on earth I ended up with a real estate license, managing properties, is beyond me. I was way out of my league. I always knew that it was just a matter of time before I was discovered to be a fraud and lost my job. Which did happen. And when it did, Darlene just moved me over to technology instead of property management.

Now, a decade and a half later, I have my insurance license and am again an agent. People have to have insurance, and I want to help them find the best deal for the best coverage, because that is my job and I do take doing a good job seriously. But I'm not a salesperson. I won't call you if you don't call me first. If you don't buy from me, I don't lose sleep over it (and not just because I'm hourly, so it doesn't matter to my personal bottom line). When there's talk of upping retention and percentage of new customers, my mind doesn't jump to ways to make that happen.

And, today, sitting in a room full of grown-up people, I did feel like the one dork kid who showed up wearing bright spring colors and without a shiny purse and clacking heels to show how very serious I am about the whole enterprise. (Then there's my Quidditch backpack I always use when I ride my bike... which was the lone bicycle at the Convention Center bike racks.)

When it comes to business crowds, I truly feel like an interloper. When a man walked by saying, "You can't expect a harvest if you don't till the ground!" excitedly, as it refers to sales, I had no context because, first of all, I don't garden (although I did trench a bunch of caliche in Las Vegas to save $900 on our landscaping... and wished very much 1/3 of the way through that I hadn't). And, second of all, because I can't imagine what "tilling the ground" might mean metaphorically in terms of preparing a field of customers.

I got some cool new information I'll be happy to implement, but I was most excited about the fact that the breakfast buffet had grilled pineapple and apple slices. This is the reality of who I am.

Who knows what's next? I might be in my 60s and find myself on a college board of directors somehow. If that is the case, I have no doubt that my priority at every meeting will be browsing snacks and maybe tucking a can of complimentary soda into my purse to take home for later. And I'll probably be wearing high-tops, too. And feeling out of place. Wondering why I'm not raking in the acting offers and whatnot. Seems like that's what I should be doing, right?