Can we all agree that one of the more enticing notices from LinkedIn is the weekly alert about your profile appearing in nation-wide job searches. Based on an informal tally my profile averaged a whopping 43 job search appearances a week this year. But despite the impressive number I had never received an invitation to even a pre-screen phone call. So why haven’t I gone to my LinkedIn account settings and shut this notice off since I am not getting a tumble from recruiters or HR departments? Am I a glutton for punishment or just an anonymous member of Fight Club?
Well for starters no matter how much of an immunity one develops to these weekly LinkedIn messages, the human emotion associated with being valued or needed remains incredibly powerful. So powerful in fact that sometimes when the weekly job search notice appears I confess that sometimes I have a millisecond fantasy that somewhere there is an organization that needs me to steer their business through choppy financial seas towards a safe port where massive quantities of in-the-money stock options and a regular spot on CNBC awaits.
For humans the need to be needed is one of our fundamental desires. We want to feel significant in the eyes of others; whether they really exist or not. That’s probably why I still haven’t adjusted my LinkedIn account settings.