Putting the “un” in “employment”

Earlier this week I wrote a post about my new – and hopefully short-lived – career as an unemployed copywriter. When I got to the end of the piece, I was given the option to “tag” it, which I believe is what gang members do with their graffiti.

I could be wrong, and I quite often am when it comes to things such as technology and the anti-social mechanisms of social media, but it appears that LinkedIn only provides pre-approved tags for writers to choose from. And yes, I ended that sentence with a preposition. I’m a rebel.

The point is, I want to self-identify as being unemployed. At the very least, I wished to correctly label my post as pertaining to the lack of perpetual paychecks. Honesty in advertising and all that. But “unemployment, unemployed, fired, job hunting,” none of these tags were options.

LinkedIn states that its mission is to: “Connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful.” And it promises that when you join, “You get access to people, jobs, news, updates, and insights that help you be great at what you do.”

I guess they mean as long as you're already (or still) employed. I’m reminded of my time as a liberal arts major, a precious period in my life where the dirty reality of earning a living was never discussed. Could it be that LinkedIn prefers not to mar its polished professionalism with the unsightly grit of posts on eliminated positions?

But the truth is, LinkedIn, there really is a non-compete clause... and we have to sign it as we gather our personal belongings into a cardboard box and hit the streets.

MY TAGS: Unemployment, Unemployed, Might Not Have a Job But Still Have a Sense of Humor

Originally published in LinkedIn February 4, 2016.