The LinkedIn Update

You have to update the LinkedIn. Everyone knows it. The gap in your profile is a billboard that says “something happened.”

So you write it. “[Company], [Years].” No end date — yet. Then the end date. Then the “Open to Work” banner. Or not the banner, because the banner feels desperate, and desperate is the one thing you can’t afford to be when you’re desperate.

The LinkedIn update is grief made public. It’s the digital version of the box in the lobby. Everyone can see it. Everyone draws conclusions. Some people reach out. Most don’t.

The ones who reach out say “let me know if there’s anything I can do.” The thing you need is a job. They can’t give you a job. But they said the words and that counts.