I'm leaving LinkedIn. Here's why.

 

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I’ve had enough. I’m leaving LinkedIn, closing my account, and wandering off into the sunset. I’ll take a week to go through all the stuff on there – primarily the articles I’ve published over the last few years, to see if there is anything I can make use of on my blog or elsewhere – but then I’m off.

I see nothing wrong with the site, despite the increasing number of complaints from other users. Sure, it’s not Facebook or Twitter, TikTok or Instagram – and thank Christ for that! - but I see no reason to complain about something that is not 100% business related appearing on a business networking site if it is current and in any way relevant. Example: some people complained to me a few years ago when I wrote posts critical of the Brexit referendum result. Others bitched about my complaints about the behaviour and incompetence of the current (and please God soon to be ex-) POTUS. Irrelevant, they wailed, this is a business network. So what, says I – both POTUS and Brexit are having a massive impact on business, mostly negative, and will continue to do so. I see no reason to believe otherwise still, nor to change the opinions shared.

In my view, if LI has a problem, it’s in not policing closely enough the members who masquerade as recruiters but are nothing more than CV harvesters. I spent the 6 years from 2013 to 2018 working as a self employed contractor in the banking software space. At the outset, and thereafter whenever a contract ended, I uploaded a current CV, edited my Profile to give details of my availability and from when. The result? I was generally, for a few weeks, receiving unsolicited Connect requests from people claiming to be recruiting for this project or that, within the particular space I was operating in, and asking for a current CV. Sometimes – indeed, frequently – there was no project mentioned, simply a demand for a Connection and CV. Initially I gave it a go, but invariably never heard another word from the recruiter and messages via mail or LI were ignored, and worst of all phone calls unanswered.

In the end I tested one, who had been pestering me for some months about work in a particular area. I happened to know someone that I had worked with previously in the location, and he knew of no projects in the country my recruiter had mentioned – odd, as my friend was the country manager for his firm. I did a bit more research, and found out that my “recruiter” was one of 2 people operating out of a business centre in the Home Counties with a declared turnover in the preceding 12 months that was less than my own. I deleted the contact and warned my friend, who had been approached by them too, offering CVs. No idea how it ended, what became of them, and frankly I don’t care. At the end of the day, every single contract I won during that period was directly via people I knew, and had done for years. The “resourcers”, “recruiters” and all the other buzz-word titles they used when asking for my CV and Connection during that same period failed to muster a single interview, never mind contract offer. Anecdotally, LinkedIn is full of these people.

Of course, it could also have been partly down to me, and a lack of “networking” from my side. The number of times I’ve seen posts from people bigging up their attainment of hitting 30,000 Connections this year or some such nonsense never ceases to amaze me. My first thought is always, “So what? How many of them do you actually deal with in any meaningful way?”  I read somewhere recently a report that says that the average human brain finds it difficult to manage and maintain more than 120-odd personal relationships (e.g. connections?), and even that seems a high number. So how anyone can seriously boast of managing and maintaining a list of thousands of such Connections is beyond me. I still don’t understand this focus on the number of Friends, or Connections, or Followers, or whatever you want to call them, that you can rack up on these sites. Surely you should aim for quality not quantity? Where is the advantage in having a list of thousands of complete strangers that you will never meet or speak to? There is no profit in that that I can see!

I currently boast 314 Connections. Of that number I know, personally (as in worked with, had a beer and a meal with, accompanied to a football match or something) probably getting on for a hundred, but most of them I haven’t seen, or in some cases heard from, for years. Of THAT number, how many do I really consider to be friends, people I would happily help and advise and be able to rely on for their help and advice at need? Maybe 15, 20 if I’m generous. In my perhaps antiquated view, that core of 15 to 20 friends are my network: everyone else on my LinkedIn list are just background, people passing in the crowd across London Bridge. Many of them (most in fact) I’ve never knowingly clapped eyes on, nor ever will.

But the main reason I’m off is the site is no longer relevant to my life. Its content no longer interests me. I have no real desire to read about why this challenger bank is better than that one, and why both are hoovering custom away from more traditional banks. Cloud computing is of no interest except as a way to store my Photos and Music without cluttering up my hard drive. Crypto-currencies and Blockchain may be the future of finance but are beyond my aging mind. I can do a very basic PowerPoint, Excel spreadsheet and Word doocument, whether on Microsoft Office or the various open source alternatives, and apart from the written Word don’t anticipate any need to learn more. Networking I’ve already discussed. And now I’m fully retired, the recruitment bit – which never worked for me in any case – is equally redundant.

So I would like to wish all my Connections, whether old friends or total strangers, all the very best for the future, may you have long and successful careers, health, wealth and happiness. Remember family should always, but ALWAYS, come before work – your loved ones will love you long after your employer has decided you are no longer wanted (and unless you are a business owner, that WILL happen, probably more than once). Live life to the full, and have no regrets. Be humble and happy, and no matter how low you feel remember there are others, millions of them, far worse off than you will ever be.

Those of you who want to stay in touch probably have my number and email or at least are Facebook Friends. I will still be writing my blog on a regular basis – since no-one can apparently be arsed to Subscribe and Follow it I have no clue if any of my Connections, including those in the various Blogging groups I’ve joined on LinkedIn, bother to read it, but the url is the same: http://travellin-bob2.blogspot.com.

Good luck, stay safe, and may your God go with you.