How to sell yourself – don’t do a Jimmy

You’ll probably see people post on LinkedIn all the time saying “wah this isn’t a dating site wah” or “ooh watch out for the Facebook police” and I’ll be frank, it really gets on my goat.

Mostly because nobody cares. Secondly, because in my time I’ve probably seen two people complain about someone’s post that it’s not the right platform and to be fair to them, it was a stupid post.

People love using openers like that because it will get some reactions. People will comment saying it’s fine to post or they’ll moan about these so-called Facebook police, but realistically, nobody cares.

Anyway, I’m quite cut and dry with messages I receive on LinkedIn.

If it’s a boring, copy and paste sales pitch job with no personality I’ll just ignore. If it’s a sales pitch with a hint of personality, it might get a “thanks but no”. If someone appears to be nice and wish me a good day, I’ll be polite and return it. If it’s a belter (never had one) then god knows what I’d do.

Thought I’d just be a nice person this time. I’ve got no business with someone who drills oil in the middle of the ocean somewhere, so whether I reply or not will be harmless, but I’m trying to be a better person. Also, not sure my Husband would appreciate my new internet oil friend, but because there’s nothing wrong with being nice.

This opener was quite simple, something which is obviously sent with no research or interest, just a chuck and hope it sticks kind of thing. To be honest, if you’re having to copy and paste your hellos then something really needs to be assessed. Anyway…

I thought I’d be nice. Maybe he was really rich, had no daughter and wanted to leave his fortune to me. Better be polite. Got to keep up appearances.

Then I got it. The optimum copy and paste. No fear, straight in. Forgetting to remove the rest of the conversation before he sent. Absolute renegade with no sense of right and wrong.

This confused me a little. I thought why is he showing me this? Are we about to moan about Lindsey together? What has she done? Is there a back story? Why is he sending me his conversation telling her that her picture caught his eye whilst looking for a school friend on his search? Then it happened. With less fear than before, he hit me with this.

He only went and resent the last bit of the message to me. He’s outed himself. Not a single care in the world. IMAGINE?! Does this work for him? Was it his first attempt with the message or has it been so wildly successful that he doesn’t need to check what he’s sending out before it goes? Girls should be grateful that they were chosen. Bless you, Jimmy.

No reply. Not even read it – hopefully just hugely embarrassed and deleted the app.

So, I think this should be a message to you all.

• Careful what you copy and paste
• If you’re thinking about being nice to a copy and paster, don’t
• Get a better app to blur out names
• People aren’t usually there to offer you their life savings on LinkedIn messenger
• If you want to sell, to start a conversation or wish someone well – just be genuine, or don’t bother, you’ll only make it on to one of my articles (see Mr. Taxi Man and Facebook Paul)

Lindsey if you’re reading this, don’t worry – he got me too. I was hoping he would send a snarky comment back because this article could have been way more interesting, but alas, nothing. Perhaps next week I’ll have an update for you all.

Stay safe and remember, Ctrl C and Ctrl V shouldn’t be used so haphazard.

M x