Disconnect

Back in 2010 I joined LinkedIn, the social media network for professionals. When I first signed up most of the people I connected with could actually vouch for my professional skills, and I could vouch for theirs. Now, most of my connections are friends or people from church. When I received the first of those invitations I asked Hubby Tony what the etiquette was in that situation. He told me that if he actually knew the person he went ahead and accepted the request; that's what I did. I have no idea if those people are good at their job or not and I certainly couldn't recommend ("endorse" in LinkedIn lingo) them. However, a couple of years ago I was able to virtually introduce one friend who was looking for a job at another friend's office. That felt pretty good.

The last time I was looking for a job myself I made sure my profile was up to date, and was a pretty active user, but in the past few years the only time I log in is when I get a message from the company that someone wants to link. The last one was from a friend of an acquaintance. I've never met the person, who calls themself an Executive Coach. When I looked at the profile I noticed it had several typos on it. Not exactly the type of person I could recommend.

I ignored the request, but about a week later I got a reminder message that my invitation was still waiting for me. This time I went to the LinkedIn site and deleted the request. I can't imagine ever running into the person, and if by some crazy reason I did I bet they wouldn't even remember reaching out to me.

Five years ago today: The Sink Isn't SUPPOSED To Sink!