Hello JobCase Community,

Hopefully this isn't a repeated post. I found this article on LinkedIn yesterday and it quantifies some things I had already been told (but haven't obeyed very well). I thought it might be useful to some people and I wanted to discuss it a bit.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/news/old-beliefs-trip-up-job-seekers-4259233/

Without going into too much detail, I have, admittedly, not aligned my job hunting approach with those findings. I have been reluctant to own that I'm unemployed (for the most part - I do consult freelance but not at a volume to sustain my family's needs)... so, I suppose I will need to deal with that. It stands to reason that the old principle that "it's much easier to find a new job when you already have one" is irrelevant in light of COVID, which is why I'm in this spot.

Then there's networking. I heard a stat that the typical job seeker spends 80% of their time chasing down job posts and 20% networking, when the optimal approach is the exact opposite. Instead of using LinkedIn, jobcase, Glassdoor, ZipRecruiter, et al to chase down job posts, we should be posting our own content and interacting. I find this difficult for a few reasons (and I'm going to use LinkedIn for illustrative purposes, but it certainly stands for jobcase, too)...

1. Posting discussion topics and trying to show your expertise on LinkedIn typically isn't received very well. There's a critical term for it - "Don't Facebook LinkedIn." I know there are other ways to network, even on LinkedIn, but in my estimation, they all involve generating ideas and content that might not be well received.

I had an idea to counter this by creating a website that acts as sort of an online industry magazine but it sputtered in web design and I think it would sputter again in getting others to contribute, and ultimately it would end up being little more than a blog. What do you all think? If you had a platform to share content, would you write for it? Would it need to be industry-specific? Could it be branded honestly as "a place for people who want to show their stuff?"

2. In a general sense, the industry I've been in for 20 years is already contracting and shrinking, and will continue to do so, because of automation and Data Science. In fact, estimates are that 47% of American jobs (pre-COVID) can be automated and the American workforce is likely to shrink significantly in the next 5-25 years. The applications of my expertise are going to narrow so I have to keep the possibility of changing careers, which makes me worry that I won't have any credibility networking toward them. We're also limited by... (what else?) COVID because it impedes all of the in-person opportunities, which is what I think most people are accustomed to.

Anyone have any solid networking approaches? Thoughts? Job offers? Magic genie lamps?

Bit of a long post. Thanks!