Maybe I was a little too creative?

The article below is a re-post of an one which I wrote on July 1st 2016 and posted on Linkedin concerning whether or not one should change their status on Linkedin to show they are unemployed and seeking new employment opportunities.

Here is the URL to the original post on Linkedin:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/maybe-i-little-too-creative-jim-cox

I hope you enjoy the article and feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

(Image credit - AZQUOTES)

Yesterday I completed my 18 month contract at Microsoft, and knowing in advance that my contract was coming to an end I began searching for new employment opportunities though nothing has yet to materialize.

Since I am now seeking new employment opportunities I thought I should reflect this in my Linkedin profile. Now there are those who advise not to state in your Linkedin profile that you are unemployed and looking for work, and then there is the opposing view that you should change your status to reflect that you are available for new opportunities.

I agree with the latter opinion because I want people to know I am available for new opportunities and I want to utilize the new listing under Experience to state what sort of opportunities I am searching for. While the Headline and Summary fields in a Linkedin profile are intended to for these purposes I find that most people reviewing profiles tend to focus on the most recent status listed under Experience.

Having decided to make the change to my status I thought I should try something different from the normal “Self” for Company Name and “Unemployed” or “Job Seeker” for Title, and I felt these changes should reflect my experience and interests in technology.

So early this morning in a fit (more like spasm) of creativity I updated my profile and listed “Career R&D” for Company Name, and “Career Engineer - R&D” for Title, and then added additional information to show what sort of opportunities I was conducing R&D for.

Where my “research” fell short in this update to my profile was the effect Linkedin’s status update to my network would have and the number of congratulatory responses I would receive for finding a new job as a "Career Engineer". While I do appreciate the consideration from those who offered congratulations I must offer a mea culpa for the misunderstanding.

One other thing that I did not consider at the time was that recruiters may not recognize or appreciate the intent of the Company Name and Title, and therefore not review my profile any further.

I have since made some more conventional updates to properly reflect my status and search for new opportunities and as far as I am concerned the original update was not a failure but instead a learning experience. I have also disabled the Notify your network? option regarding updates to my profile which I originally enabled for this particular update and I will leave it disabled until I have finalized by profile. Also this entry in my profile will be deleted once I find a new opportunity.

What I would like to know from others here on Linkedin is what do you think about posting your status as unemployed and seeking a new job. Should you change your status to reflect you are unemployed and seeking new opportunities or should you just leave your status as is with only a change in date?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

Cheers ~ Jim