'Open to Work' Declaration on LinkedIn is Bad for Your Reputation and Aspirations
Plus, 1) a wife supports her husband in court after he attempted to murder her and their children and 2) what does more smoke (accusations) against your name, even vigorously denied, mean to critics?
LinkedIn’s 'open to work' banner ‘is the biggest red flag’…I am willing to offer up the forecast seeing that many people seeing that article headline will be upset.
Nolan Church, a former Google recruiter and current CEO of salary data company FairComp, however insists on his point and he explains why he believes it.
"There is a truism in recruiting that the best people are not looking for jobs," he told Gili Malinsky at CNBC, and that such employed people would certainly not be advertising to companies and recruiters that they're looking for work.
First, let’s examine the claim of truism.
“A statement that is obviously true,” says Oxford Languages.
Could Church’s assertion of a truism be an overstatement? I think it’s quite possible. More on this shortly.
Former Amazon recruiter and current career coach Lindsay Mustain’s belief coincides with Church’s. Her expertise tells her that recruiters want to want you, not the other way around.
That means a job hunter who has activated the “open to work” designation on LinkedIn is likely to struggle even more finding opportunities, "because you need something from me, that means that I have the power in this conversation," Mustain expressed to Malinsky. And that can be a turn off, she declares.
Church and Mustain want to be insightful yet what is being said by them is also highly unlikely not what all recruiters or most recruiters believe and communicate to people.
There is no shame or reputation ding for expressing that you are willing to become a subject matter — and intangible — asset to an employer, its management personnel and the teams they lead.
If hiring professionals say that you being honest about your ambitions and pursuits is problematic, is that a company you can feel comfortable with and desirous of serving?
Maybe the lower-grade reputation mark gets attached to the hiring personnel and organization, not the “open to work” professional.
You’re not going to believe this — or maybe you will — as unusual of a story as it is to comprehend.
“The wife of the man who allegedly drove his car over a California cliff with his family inside is asking the judge to rule against prison time in his case, instead saying that he needs mental health treatment,” writes Brenton Blanchet for People magazine.
What kind of reputation did this man build with his wife and children for them to want him to avoid going to prison despite driving them off a cliff (!), an act that shockingly did not kill or forever maim them?
Dharmesh Arvind Patel drove his family’s Tesla off a 250-foot cliff on Jan. 2 and was charged with three counts of attempted murder.
His wife, Neha Patel, wants a judge to consider mental health treatment for him instead of a prison sentence, per The San Francisco Chronicle and The Mercury News.
“I don’t want to see Dharmesh prosecuted with any of his charges,” she said on May 2, per The Chronicle. “I am pleading with the court to grant him his mental health diversion.”
Wow. Wow. Wow.
What is behind her support?
The Los Angeles Times reported that San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said two doctors had testified that Dharmesh was suffering a psychotic break at the time of the crash, leading him to believe that his two children (a 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son) may be sex trafficked. Doctors also claimed the accused was enduring a major depressive disorder.
“Seeing my kids in constant pain is one of the hardest things I’ve had to endure,” Neha told the judge. “Once I tuck my children into bed at night I’m reminded of my own solitude. I really miss my best friend. I really miss my partner in my life.”
As The Chronicle reported, Judge Susan Jakubowski will determine if Dharmesh poses a public safety threat and if mental health contributed to his decision.
As far as Mrs. Patel, she has apparently forgiven her husband for trying to kill her, the couple’s children and himself.
“We need him in our lives and it has been over a year and a half since my children or I have seen or spoken to Dharmesh,” she said. “We are not a family without him. The mental health treatment … will not only restore him back to himself, but will restore our family.”
A woman missing her in-tact family, wanting the best for their children and missing a man she loves and still believes in, at least as she presents it publicly.
The odds seem to favor Mr. Patel going to prison, for a long time, yet his wife’s forgiveness and expert-witness doctors’ testimony could favorably factor into how he is viewed as a human being and mitigate the length of the sentence.
Where there is the constant smoke of accusations, there has to be fire…right? With decorated actor Kevin Spacey, who knows, but it doesn’t look good for him to have more claims of sexual misconduct. He denies them.
“I can’t go through this again,” Spacey said, “allowing myself to be baselessly attacked without defending myself.”
When a person feels unjustly accused and vilified, they may decide to do as Spacey has done and is doing, which is say to themselves and the world, something along the lines of, this is so wrong and I’m not going to sit idly by and let liars continue to convince people of outrageous lies about me.
Last July, a London jury acquitted Spacey on sexual assault charges stemming from allegations by four men dating back 20 years, Pan Pylas for the Associated Press has reported. “The court victory was his second since he saw off a $40 million lawsuit in 2022 in New York brought by ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ actor Anthony Rapp.”
The documentary “Spacey Unmasked” will be aired May 6 and 7 in Britain and streamed on Max in the U.S. It will feature testimony from men regarding events between 1976 and 2013, Spacey says.
Spacey can’t seem to escape more attacks on his behavior, going back decades and up until the last decade. Could some of the stories actually be factual? With so many claims, there has to truth, correct?
Or is that another baseless assumption? Yes, It could be false.
“I take full responsibility for my past behavior and my actions, but I cannot and will not take responsibility or apologize to anyone who’s made up stuff about me or exaggerated stories about me,” he added. “I’ve never told someone that if they give me sexual favors, then I will help them out with their career, never.”
What does “full responsibility” and “exaggerated stories” mean? I ask not to condemn but to seek clarification. People do tell lies to bring down people whom they feel owe them something. It is also true that lecherous people can have a long list of people whom they victimized, without consequences and punishment.
Yet questionable behavior in the eyes of critics does not automatically mean that crimes or moral victimization occurred. We may want it to be that way but objectivity may not prove wrongdoing.
Wordplay however creates added doubt.
“I’ve clearly hooked up with some men, who thought they might get ahead in their careers by having a relationship with me,” Spacey admits, adding that. “But there was no conversation with me, it was all part of their plan, a plan that was always destined to fail, because I wasn’t in on the deal.”
Spacey could be pleading ignorance or revealing that he has used people — or he could be leaving out the totality of the communication and clarity that he had with his sexual partners.
Spacey remains on the defensive, flexing his legal victories.
“Each time I have been given the time and a proper forum to defend myself, the allegations have failed under scrutiny and I have been exonerated,” he said.
Spacey does have legal triumphs to back him up. Of course, winning in court does not mean that mistreatment of people didn’t happen. It can show that the court system worked well for the accused. That happens.
Maybe the claims were always lies. Or maybe Spacey won because he could afford to hire highly-skilled and experienced, elite-level attorneys to explain away his behavior that was in the gray area or wrong.
Spacey’s career has suffered, even after being acquitted of all criminal charges, describing his experience as a “life sentence,” Pylas reported.
If we are to believe everything the actor has told us, then his career has been unjustly damaged and he has had exciting opportunities and millions and millions of dollars denied him. If we believe some of the accusations have to be factual, then Spacey has contributed heavily to his career, financial, relationships and mental health misery.
“… people attack your weaknesses until you stop showing them to be weaknesses.”
I share this, in a reputation context, meaning that if you hope to overcome negative judgment, then it seems logical and helpful to do the necessary work to overcome what is considered to be a thinking-and-behavior weakness you currently exhibit.
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Michael Toebe is a reputation consultant, advisor and communications specialist at Reputation Intelligence: Reputation Quality, assisting individuals and organizations with further building reputation as an asset or ethically and responsibly protecting, restoring or reconstructing it.
Professional opinion reports, situational consulting, ongoing advisory, emotional support and communications leadership.
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