Stop the Instagramification of LinkedIn

Professionally, the past year and a half have been a tumultuous time of both highs and lows. Over this time frame, I've had at least 6 in-person interviews and close to 40 phone interviews with nothing to show.

Making the transition to a role in business analytics has been one of the most daunting challenges I've ever had the opportunity to overcome. 

Finally, after all this time, "I am beyond excited to announce" (sound familiar?) that even though I still have nothing to announce, I can fully empathize and stand in solidarity with everyone else in a similar situation.

Often, LinkedIn is a platform where success and achievement are shared and sometimes idolized. In this way, I think the community experiences something characteristic of an Instagram effect. Influencers (our friends and personal connections in many cases) depict a reality of unfaltering career success. As a result, this kind of narrative is normalized and adhered to...

...this is so unhealthy!

Success stories are awesome. They're dramatic, charismatic, and inspirational. In fact, no one should feel guilty for sharing their success! 

The problem is that the other side of the story is quite often stowed away in the dark. People don't feel secure enough to share their journey or empathize with others until they're over the mountain. Because of this, all of this pressure from the silence mounts on those still climbing.

I'm writing this post in hopes that we can start to flip the script on this. LinkedIn can be a place where people don't necessarily have to achieve anything to finally empathize with others who are in their same shoes. It should be okay to share your struggle, and open the door for others to do the same.

This post is also a personal invitation for anyone else struggling in their careers to shoot me a message here on LinkedIn or to reply to this post with their own #shareyourstruggle story. Whether your professional challenges are COVID-related, transitioning from college to the workforce, from one job to another, from one industry to another, etc, sometimes we just need someone to talk to.

LinkedIn is a community. Communities are places where members support one another. Isn't our community broken if we don't know who needs support?

Normalize humility on LinkedIn.

#shareyourstruggle #work #life #success #jobs #careers #culture #motivation #selfhelp