Your Connection Got a New Job! Maybe.

by Wendy Frink

LinkedIn is a funny little devil. It tells you who has been creeping on your page and sends out a mass email alerting your connections when you make certain updates to your profile. And those emails can bring about a bit of an awkward situation.

I was making my LinkedIn profile a little more robust and adding some freelance blogging work I had done to build up my portfolio, but also as part of a job audition at a popular website. Sadly, I didn’t get the position, but much of my work had gone “viral,” so I figured I ought to include it in my profile. Many of my friends knew I was interviewing there, so imagine my surprise when I started getting texts and emails that read “congratulations!”

Wait what?

LinkedIn sent the “new job” email to my connections simply because I had added this work to my profile. It was kind of funny, but also sort of embarrassing to have to tell this people, “Nope! I didn’t get that job. Just dusting the cobwebs off the ol’ LinkedIn page! But if you know of anyone looking for a clever blogger and social media guru, I am still looking!”

Needless to say, I checked my privacy settings and I don’t think any more of those alert emails will be going out anytime soon.

Wendy Frink lives in New York and sometimes tweets.

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