That was weird but exciting

[Anonymous]

Back in early 2020 when laid off in Covid I started posting a lot on LinkedIn.

I did not land a full time role until March 2021. (Did a contracting gig in between six months) so kept posting, engaging in content of others. Doing likes.

The job in March 2021 was not a forever job so still spent 30-60 minutes a day on LinkedIn. I finally got my dream job April 2023 and now only post once a month and comment on another posted 2-3 times a week.

Nothing crazy as goal was a new job. Just interesting career related topics.

Well I went to my first IRL big conference this week. It was very weird. 30-40 people introduced themselves as they said they follow me in LinkedIn and love my content. And the key note speaker I went to say hi reached out to me and called me by name and introduced me around as he follows me.

Then I was asked to present at next conference as I have a following.

Was weird. I was desperate in Covid and at peak I was on LinkedIn 4-5 hours a day for almost 18 months. I mean I would blow 5-10 hours a week just writing original posts. No copy paste.

But I was in basement desperate job hunting in pandemic.

I was posting into a black hole for almost six years. Funny how IRL intersects. The keynote speaker of the 600 person conference invited me to co present with him at next event at his session. I said on what topic? He laughed don’t you have a million topics and 10,000 followers.

Hope I am not a big fat fake as one thing to write posts in word, spell check then, add a good picture, speak check then copy and paste into a post then speaking live in front of 600 people. I also got invited in 2027 to present 800 person conference another guy who follows me. They are always looking for speakers with a following.

Was weird but shows maybe something good will happen. If I don’t bomb

[Anonymous]

What industry are you in?

[Anonymous]

Financial Services. I was posting on Banking, Broker Dealer type topics. But light fluffy interesting reads. No crazy stuff. Kind of Dilbert level with a little bit of current events and fun facts.

Maybe I am G rated linked in. I block the crazy people myself.

[Anonymous]

Good for you. You must have something interesting to say that others enjoy reading.

[Anonymous]

That's awesome, OP. Your posts must have really resonated with people. See if you can monetize them lol.

[Anonymous]

Well done!

Also reminds me of a skit I saw where someone who was unemployed was asked to be "on a panel" and then did such a good job that she was asked to be on more, and soon her whole job became sitting on panels, and she never got an actual job. Panels were the job.

[Anonymous]

This is fantastic! Well done and thank you for sharing the story. 💯

PSA: this is a good example for people who haven't ever bothered to try to network because they thought their job path was secure and who wants to waste time with chitchat or web media. Well, it matters!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is fantastic! Well done and thank you for sharing the story. 💯

PSA: this is a good example for people who haven't ever bothered to try to network because they thought their job path was secure and who wants to waste time with chitchat or web media. Well, it matters!

It was a bit accidental. When job hunting the more connections you have, the more you post original content, comment, get views or comments/likes on your posts the more you move up algorithm. So original goal was to get more views on my job applications and more recruiters viewing me

My most popular and harmless posts are to this day when I explain the history of things in Financial Services that most people would never know or just tell story from my past. I don't know why people find it interesting so much

For instance on September 16, 1920, a powerful bomb exploded on Wall Street in front of the J.P. Morgan bank headquarters, killing 38 people and injuring hundreds. The perpetrators were never caught. I would have a picture of me in front of location where bomb went off and the building still has the damage marks they never removed. Kinda informative. People walk by building all the time and never notice the damage in the stone work from 1920. Stuff like that would get a lot of views and comments.

Too many people post crazy stuff on LinkedIn. My stuff is just interesting stuff someone can say that's interesting I am going to tell my spouse when I get home or my coworkers. Remember my intent was to job hunt and just keep my name in the algorithm. Which also values pictures and videos. For instance I posted a short video in May 2020 of downtown DC by monuments in Covid and you see me drive 30 seconds with zero people on streets. And I just wrote a one sentence comment on how everyone is staying safe. But the video got clicks as was interesting. I did not say a word or film me. It was just 30 seconds of dead empty DC at mid day. It sounds simple but I am not too busy to keep it up. But surprised people all remembered it in the conference.

[Anonymous]

Good for you. You may want to work with a speaking coach to help you feel prepared and polished. A lot of it is being authentic to yourself, but being conscious of your speaking, mannerisms, and how you make your key points. And of course, you can be vulnerable and self deprecating and talk to the audience about how you found your voice during Covid, from a corner of your house, and you are now dazzled to be in a room full of real, live people! Use that to win the audience over.

[Anonymous]

Great job, OP. This is so cool.