As much as I like automatization and would like to automate everything possible, certain things shouldn’t be automated in my eyes. One example is personal communication! Like most people in tech, I get tons of messages on LinkedIn. Not infrequently along the lines of
I was really excited to come across your profile…
or
I was checking your profile, and you are the perfect match for our team in <location>
So, what is the issue with these sentences, you ask? Well, if the recruiter didn’t actually check your profile and they are sending this out automated to hundreds of people with a specific skill set, these are empty phrases in my eyes.
That’s why I added “🧑🏼💻” to my first name on LinkedIn. From there on, if I receive a message like this:
I can pretty much tell that the recruiter probably didn’t check my profile themself, and I can ignore the message with a clean conscience.
Whereas if the message doesn’t contain the emoji plus even picks up something individual from my profile, they took the time to actually check my profile.
If any recruiter is reading this. Consider coming up with a genuinely personal message… or along with my affinity for automatization: Filter out any emojis automatically from their first name. 😉