Age Descrimination, Job Hopping and Other Search Tribulations

I was developing a branded linkedin profile for an executive client and once again came up against the issue of having to insert dates for every job. While my client's experience back in the 1970's and early 1980's was highly relevant, I didn't particularly feel like emphasizing how dated the work was. I have run into the same problem with someone who has held multiple short term jobs on a professional level. This most often has happened working for start ups that go under, or in rapidly contracting sector rife with mergers and acquisitions.

Given I can't get Linkedin to loosen up on their natural inclination to put structure and rules around everything on their site, I just work around them.

I suggest to my clients to not give each job a separate entry on Linkedin or any other social site, but rather clump titles and jobs together under one date range. Maybe your last two position, including your current one, would be listed out separately. The advantage is nobody knows how long you worked at any one position and you can decide on the earliest date you want to show.

Another tack is to not fill in work experience at all but focus on the summary section instead, using it to elaborate on your work history in way that brands and markets you. Then use the specialties section to add lots and lots of keywords.

Remember, Linkedin or any other social site is not your resume, so don't be duped into filling it out as if it was. Beware of Zoominfo's list of your employment history. You can modify your profile on that site and should. Many search firms use it exclusively. Find work-arounds to their structures to suit yourself. Use all social sites as marketing and branding tools not obituaries.

You will be better off doing a website-blog as a professional profile on line that you can control and guide the delivery of image and content. The cost has dropped to make it totally affordable. The ease of update with a dashboard instead of html code makes it feasible for anyone to own one and update it. If you want information or examples on how to do this, just shoot me an email: patti@pattiwilson.com