Exactly. Hire me based on my experience, or don't. Don't make me go back to old connections and waste their time so they can provide a reference to prove my worth. I understand why it's a thing. It's good to have a professional who can vouch for your skills. But it's frustrating nonetheless.
I have had 5 employers in 26ish years. Every job I got to interviews because I knew someone. My field is smaller though so knowing someone that knows someone is almost given. That being said, LinkedIn is the place to go for announcing you got laid off. The trash content posts rot my soul. Mostly.
I like in person or Zoom coffee with peers or a mentor. Posts, message, or email are shallow communication at best. Video is better, but in person is best by a huge margin. Grow your network like growing a finicky cactus, nurture it but don’t touch it too much.
I sued my City over a development and WON. DeSantis took $100,000 from the developer & overturned my win. The developer labeled me “difficult” in every news article. So introverted AND “difficult” is hard to spin positively on LinkedIn. Old connections can’t compete with Google unfortunately.
Oh no, I'm sorry. That sounds horrible. It just adds a whole other layer of difficult on top of everything else.
Thank you for your kind words. I hope you find the best most awesome-est job ever! Here’s to good karma for good people.
Likewise! I hope you find the perfect job. Don't let that fucker developer deter you. A good job will come.