I’ve noticed that I really haven’t had time to add anything to my blog lately. It seems the last time was back in February- about the same time I got a job.

Blogs are interesting in that they can cover myriad subjects (and for those who graduated from high school with a 3.o or better average, that’s how it’s supposed to be written, not “a myriad of subjects”… I don’t know why but them’s are the rules  ; ) ). Off-subject: I really hate going to online forums where the people participating, who are adults, most likely over 40, and can’t spell or bother to even right -click on a word when it’s underlined with presumably the incorrect spelling. That’s just lazy.

To be honest, I like to blog about design, whether good or bad, and sometimes about other things that may not seem design related, but in most cases are in some odd way. My blog about LinkedIn, though some considered it just your everyday rant, was in some ways a social commentary about that site and Social Media/Social Networking sites in general, and well, how they are designed.

I commented on how I have this huge “network” and how it really did nothing to help in my job seeking activities when I was out of work. I’d send resumés and “in” messages to recruiters who were in my first degree of contacts, with zero response back. The job I have now I never applied for, sent my resumé to, “in” mailed anyone — it just happened. To be honest, I attribute it fully to God.

Not that I’m saying linkedIn is all bad. I do get emails once in a while from people I haven’t talked to in a while, and see what past co-workers and or friends and colleagues are up to lately. So, in that sense linkedIn is pretty cool. As a job finding, getting in the door tool, mmm, not so much from my experience.  And as I said in my last post regarding linkedIn and social networking in general, I’d like to be proven wrong.

We have all this technology at our fingertips designed to make our lives easier and more productive. Before “social media”, people used to network by attending meetings, user groups, industry gatherings, etc. And from those in the past, I was able to get job offers all the time. But then people got to know me face to face, see my work, watch me present at times, and the rest all kind of fell into place.

But now with that layer removed, I don’t know how technology in this sense really helps. And I don’t think anyone else, if they really thought about it really truly knows. Also, I may just be writing to a blog that no one really reads, and in a sense just talking to my own self.

That took me on and off about 20 minutes to make this post, in between meetings and work. So, I guess there is some time here and there to blog. Did I talk about design? Kind of. Not so much the visual design of social networking sites like LinkedIn, but this was more about the actual user experience design, and I think there’s a lot more that can be done to make a site like that use the technology more efficiently so it becomes a tool for professionals to find that perfect and or illusive job, especially in today’s economy and job market.

Your comments are more than welcome on this of course. And I do dare anyone to prove otherwise that LinkedIn really doesn’t help open the doors to that perfect job.

25 minutes…

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