Champagne and Razorblades #6

It’s been a while, so I thought I’d come back with something that is both thought provoking and a little explosive…

LinkedIn is full of liars.

Yep, it’s true. LinkedIn has fast become the Instagram of the business world.

That being said, not everyone is or can be tarred with the same brush. Whilst there isnt anything wrong with bending the truth slightly to put yourself in a more favourable light/position, there are definitely more than a few culprits who cross the line in lying who clutter up my LinkedIn feed.

As with all forms of social media, you only get to see the 1% of people’s lives that they choose to show and in which they portray themselves as the top biller/super savvy businessperson/kind-hearted leader/industry chain breaker/mother of dragons. I’ve spoken about this in more detail recently regarding sharing your failures (see C&RB5), so I won’t repeat myself, so here we go…

Today is Tuesday, and already this week I’ve seen 4 different CEOs of various companies post that they were down to their last ￡20 or well into their overdraft, whilst owning multi-million-pound companies, flash cars and big houses and turned their life around through their super savvy business know-how. As well as this, a ridiculous amount of hiring managers saying that they exclusively only hire based on a person’s attitude. Not a person’s skill or experience.

Every time I see one of these posts, I die a little inside.

Let’s start with the latter shall we. Outside of LinkedIn I don’t know a single hiring manager who hires solely on attitude – and I’ll heavily caveat that statement with unless it’s an entry level position. The people they hire might display a good attitude and work ethic, but they also have the skills and experience to back it up.

An example, an office manager – you wouldn’t hire someone for the post who had a ‘go get ‘em’, firing-on-all-cylinders attitude with little to no experience and who’s personality lines up with yours, you simply wouldn’t. 10/10 times you would hire someone who has the experience of managing a team/office, who has the skills to deal with the pressures that come with the job. The ideal candidate would be a blend of both, of course, but it can’t always be the case. More to the point, if it's personality you’re looking for, why aren’t you looking inward (unless it literally is an entry level position). Does no one who you currently employ/work with have a “good enough” personality to make the step up? In the same way, if it was your house and you needed a plumber to sort your bathroom out, you wouldn’t hire the gardener because he has a good personality. Skill set plays an equally important part in the hiring process.

It's a good narrative to pay lip service to, but when it comes down to it, you’re backing someone with the experience and skillset, so why lie?

Now, let’s address the former issue. The self-made/established CEO’s publishing on LinkedIn that whilst they were in the throes of managing a multi-million, multi-business empire, whilst having a few houses and flash cars that they themselves were down to their last ￡20 (some of whom have framed a ￡20 note or statement for “proof”) and their businesses failing but managed to turn it around because of their savvy business knowledge . Not only does this come across as a humble brag, highlighting that they are asset rich, but it makes them look like a sanctimonious prig (a word someone once used to describe me). If times were that hard, you wouldn’t necessarily publicising it or stating that you had assets which could have helped you out of your situation.

Before you jump on my back about people being willing to show their failures, this isnt that.

Showing your mistakes and learning from them is fine but displaying your gilded life for all to see, with a “woe-is-me” message, isnt the way to go about it. It completely turns people off, along with the fact it shows that you haven’t made some good decisions along the way to end up in that position. And again, I’m not dragging people through the mill who are self-made successful people who have fell on hard times and bounced back, just those who give themselves the narrative that they are a martyr.

You wouldn’t believe reading this that I have had a quite a few good weeks in recruitment which has kept me busy, along with other things going well in my personal life. But they are personal gripes that really irritate me on LinkedIn.

As I mentioned at the start, LinkedIn is starting to look a lot like Instagram, you only get to see 1% of someone’s life…the danger being it’s only the 1% they want you to see.