Hmm, is this real or not…

I can’t imagine what kind of device Manuel might be.

I would have ignored this entirely except that it showed up in an email from LinkedIn. It was just too emblematic of the job search market to pass up.

I thought LinkedIn was supposed to be vetting their job listings. It looks like USTech is a real company, but I can’t locate this position on their web site.

So either it’s another SPAM job listing (All too common on LinkedIn) or it’s an old position that’s been filled so LinkedIn is just presenting it to waste the job seeker’s time.

I think it’s time to ask this simple question.

Is it time to abandon LinkedIn?

What does it really provide as far as service? The site has degraded to nothing more than a FaceBook clone.

Honestly, I can’t read more than a few of the posts before getting really bored. 

The years I was completely off of LinkedIn I got a lot less SPAM. Less than a week after rejoining LinkedIn, my SPAM levels tripled.

I only rejoined LinkedIn because a completely useless HR consultant told an entire class of people it was absolutely necessary to have social media and LinkedIn. This consultant supposedly walked everyone through the self marketing process. Social media presence, LinkedIn profiles, resumes, etc. Except they didn’t.

I can say, for me sitting in those classes was absolutely useless. I can’t say for certain that anyone benefitted, and the consulting firm doesn’t appear to be in business today. 

Our jobs, indeed most of our department was being offshored and the company had to wave its hands for the government, to make it look like they were doing something to assist those of us being laid off.

The majority of us who’d been through the layoff process before, knew within 5 minutes that these HR Consulting folks were bogus. These folks had the fundamentals of the layoff process incorrect and didn’t know that when a company lays off quantities of people above a certain threshold there’s government involvement and reporting.

They were getting paid likely an obscene amount of money but their curriculum was obviously a hack job and not one of them had ever taught a class or gotten up to speak  in front of a group of people. Yes, it was that obvious. Especially since I had stood up teaching classes to technical folks earlier in my career.

I’ve wondered what it would take for me to be one of the presenters for a corporation that does the “Employment Transitions and Assistance Classes” By the way, I claim that name, and the abbreviation ETAC as my own.

I’m sure I could put together a class that dealt with Social media (What to delete!) LinkedIn and resume writing. I’m also sure that I could put together something useful to the employees facing the end of their jobs. God knows I’ve been through the layoff process enough to have gained some useful experience.