Vulnerability and Desperation in a Social Search

Social media is a circus where almost anything goes. The line between vulnerability and desperation is not hard to cross.

The algorithm rewards engagement, and an audience bombarded with extremes is numb to all but the most heart-wrenching, cute, hilarious, and thoughtful posts.

The dopamine rush of hitting on a unique viral formula can be profitable for an individual content creator. Still, they become products of their success as they limit themselves to this pseudo existence where engagement dictates their worth on any given day.

Any intelligent job seeker sees social media visibility as a way to get their candidature in front of the right people. This is spot on. Sadly, few go about it in the right way.

You see, for every viral post you see, there are 1,000 that you do not see. For every stunning success, there are countless miserable failures. This is life, but the insidious nature of social media means that you only see a feed full of viral posts.

This includes viral job search posts.

As tough economic times approach, increasingly more posts pop up – in particular on LinkedIn – asking for assistance in the job search. Many get a better response than the average post for that individual (and why wouldn’t they). People on LinkedIn are supportive of job seekers, so these sorts of posts do get some extra visibility. Some get thousands of likes and shares.

That is where the issues begin. Social “fame” can be addictive.

Especially when you are desperate to find a new job….

If that first post goes semi-viral, most of your immediate network will likely have seen it. Those interested in your background will click on your profile, and you may get a few nibbles from recruiters and employers for interviews. Well done.

The issue comes when that initial wave of visibility is over. You want to ride the wave again, so you try something else. A few people who supported you the first time might engage, but your reach will decrease. The same people in your network will see you posting again. And again, and again. Before you know it, you will have been posting about your job search for a few months. Getting increasingly desperate as time goes on….

The value of social media lies in building a support network over the long term for events such as job loss. There is indeed a one-off benefit for a “help me, please” viral job post, but there is little incremental benefit after that. Don’t get sucked into the game of going viral with lots of job seeker posts. It won’t happen, and it will just harm your chances.

You have better things to do with your job search time than try to go viral on social media continually. If anything, it can turn into a negative drag on your emotional equilibrium. That is the last thing that you need as you walk into potentially career-changing interviews.

LinkedIn is a fantastic resource for a job seeker, but there is far more to it than a one-dimensional strategy of trying to go viral with desperate job seeker-style posts that cross the line between vulnerability and desperation.

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This blog is shared with Job Seeker Duetists. 

Written by former recruitment ghostwriter Paul Drury (not AI).