“Feel free to connect!”, “Let’s connect!”
It is too often that either the ‘Profile Headline’ or the ‘About’ section on LinkedIn profiles are seen ending with this. What does this mean?
Sadly, almost every time, it means nothing.
As the great Rahul Subramanian rightly puts it every now and then, “LinkedIn is the only place where the number of highly motivated people are more than the people who need motivation!”
People write all kinds of highly effective, professional, cooperation-offering and oh-this-platform-is-meant-for-networking posts, but when it actually comes to doing things to support this claim, there’s very little that they do.
Of course, one is not expected to do charity here. But I’ve heard and seen people being not so supportive to their connects, especially the ones they know personally. There’s some (hidden) jealousy barrier which probably stops them. Like, “Oh what if he/she lands a job better than mine.” or “When I needed help, I got nothing, I figured things out myself. Why should I help?” or may be “Why should I invest my time in helping others, I myself am not doing so well.”
You’re surely allowed to feel all this as a Human Being. Trust me, helping gestures do not cost anything significant. However, all of us consciously doing just 1-2 such engagements in a day will make this community much stronger and mutually cooperative!
So, next time you see posts (read ‘Genuine posts’, because we know what we know about the posts which are just begging attention), do drop a comment wishing them ‘Good Luck for the search’ or mention if you have any specific references. If you see a Startup founder or a Sales person making attempts to grow their business, may be engage with them if you’re even a tad bit curious about what they do.
Basically, this may pinch a few of us here, but let’s shed the ego that our comment is very valuable and we should think too much and too deeply before writing a comment for someone’s good.
Be Genuine. Be Cooperative. Be Nice.
Thoughts?