I have written about hibernating in my recent post LinkedIn Gone to Sleep which is a way I’m managing, well, let’s just say, filtering and directing all enquiries to come through my site here.

About a couple of years ago, I used a specific code to Unfollow Everyone on LinkedIn and wrote about it in my blog post Cleaning Up My LinkedIn Feed which is one of my most read posts here. I guess it’s a problem for many.

Thing is, we’ve been suckered into thinking that we need to have our work profiles on this site that is bombarded by people wanting to connect with us and then sell to us or add us to their newsletters, that it simply got too much.

For many years, I taught people the respectful behaviours and etiquette of building your networks online but it seems that many others simply don’t follow basic etiquette and I can’t fight the tide anymore. You start to feel that you’re the only person who is trying to help people that they don’t need to follow social marketing tactics to create connections – they can be different, more authentic and more mindful of how they use these tools.

Instead, it’s a race to the bottom with everyone following the actions of everyone else who are using blast tactics to fill our feeds. It’s tiring so I decided to opt out.

I’ve been trying to find a small part-time or casual job as a library assistant that I can do on my days off. However, I thought that I had to make my LinkedIn ‘live’ again in case the recruiters wanted to check out my profile. That’s when I thought, “why do I have to?”

“Why can’t I just direct people to view my CV online through my own website?”

So I uploaded a Resume Builder, WP plugin and moved all my LinkedIn content over to here – along with the Testimonials which have their own page. However, I wasn’t happy with the templates it provided so I recreated my Curriculum Vitae page as a normal WP page this morning.

Yesterday, I find out that I was unsuccessful for the role of Librarian Officer so I re-hibernated my LinkedIn and will ‘dumb down’ my Resume. I don’t like those words, let’s just say, that I’m overqualified for any casual or temp role that is something I can do for a bit of fun (like the receptionist role I had at the Synchrotron which I loved).

I’m at a point in my life where I am thinking about whether I should retire but I’d also like to do something that has me working on simple tasks and working locally. It’s more of a lifestyle change than anything. But it seems that in order to do so, I need to really change up my resume and not refer people to any of my work online.

Working under stealth that allows me to have some local community connections appeals to me. I’m in a privileged position to be in this situation.