Don’t badmouth your former employer Even if you don’t name them. No matter how long it’s been. People can figure out who your employer was by your work history which is RIGHT ON THE SAME PAGE AS YOUR POST. Contact people privately about private stuff If someone posts a job on LinkedIn and you’re interested in it, send them an InMail or reach out to them some other way. Don’t comment on their posts and say “I’m interested!” This is the most low-effort way of contacting someone. They’re obviously not going to get back to you, and now all your co-workers know you’re looking for a job.
If you’ve written a post using AI copy the text into Notepad and paste it into LinkedIn as plain text.
To everyone who says that em-dashes are a sign of AI: Good to see so much sophistication about typography getting out in the mainstream—but em-dashes are a legitimate punctuation mark. You know what is an AI ‘tell’? Times Roman fonts, bold type, and rows of emoticons.
Don’t humble brag This is so nauseating it makes people’s dead grandparents throw up. And it’s all over the place! Just stop.
Don’t write like a marketer If you’re using language like “unlock” or “transform,” I’m looking at you. This stuff may work in email subject lines you can ask my favorite marketing email guru about that. On LinkedIn, it just sounds annoying.
Don’t complain about how hard it is to get a job Are you kidding? It’s also hard to hire people. The people reading your job applications and cover letters also work hard. That’s why they’re using all these AI tools you’re complaining about (you know, the same AI tools you’re using to inflate your resume). The only thing you’re accomplishing is advertising that you have nothing better to do than hang out on LinkedIn looking for free therapy.
I get that looking for a job is draining and scary. Run your job search like a professional and then take a break like normal people. If you need support, by all means get it. Just not on LinkedIn!
Don’t post grip-and-grins at tradeshows. Or do (because people who haven’t seen you in a while enjoy seeing your face), but just don’t think that those kind of posts actually sell anything.
Don’t make it all about you. Engage with other people’s posts in a productive way, adding value to whatever they’re trying to discuss, and do people a “solid” by re-posting legitimate stuff that they want to share that you think your followers would be interested in.
Limit your posting frequency Unless you really have that much to say. If you appear at the top of everyone’s feed daily with stuff like “Contact me if you want to buy my great product or service” then you’re posting too much and you should go do something productive.
If you’ve made it this far You might think all this advice is obvious. And yet, I’ve seen smart people do all this stuff.
We write LinkedIn posts to get people to engage. There’s an addictive pull to respond to some posts, even if you’re about to respond in a way that might not serve your personal brand, or your company’s brand, or whatever purpose you originally had for being on LinkedIn. Just remember (as with any social media platform) to watch your✨🎉🎊🎈!
