Happy 2022 y’all! Have we all gone COMPLETELY FERAL since being trapped in our houses and behind masks? I know I’m not so good at being in public these days. Thanks COVID! 😉

I’m not really a “New Year’s Resolution” kind of girl, but I do want to get back to writing. I’ve been focusing so much on video content I’ve neglected the blog and if I HAD a resolution, it would be to rectify that.

Over the last few years I’ve built a wee bit of an audience, which is kinda neat! I am, after all, just a small town girl from Kansas who never fathomed I’d stumble into this phenomenal recruiting career. It’s been nothing short of a miracle (thank you Jesus!) and I am so blessed to have found so many wonderful friends and mentors who’ve supported me along the way.

Now that I’ve learned a little something about recruiting (and trust me I am ALWAYS LEARNING) I’ve tried my best to continue paying it forward to job seekers, clients, and new recruiters. I’ve made some great friends and even gathered a few haters along the way. It comes with having strong opinions, and I’m ok with that. A lesson I sometimes forget is that it also comes with desperate attention seekers who will latch on to your brand like a leech, in order to further their own agenda.

I was reminded of this quote after a recent kerfuffle involving a ton of recruiters, a resume best practice, and some poor soul looking for attention. What SHOULD have been an online argument that fizzled out quickly kept going – because the leech in this scenario so desperately needed to attach themselves to a group of well respected recruiters. It devolved into a pending defamation case, so I won’t include any links or identifying information – but believe me when I tell you it got… silly. This post isn’t about feeding trolls or throwing any more unwarranted recognition to a desperate soul. It’s about the DIFFERENCE between ATTENTION and RESPECT.

Sit with that for a moment.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my interactions with others. I am an open book online, I tend to write how I talk and I show up on video the same way I do in my living room. I don’t have a “persona” – what you see is most assuredly what you get – warts and all. I’m ok with that! There are TWO THINGS I consider when creating content or communicating online –

  • Would I give this same advice to my family and friends?
  • Would I defend this comment, post, video to my leaders?

YES – I get a little swear-y on twitter. YES – my word choice, refusal to back down, and bad habit of clapping back sometimes makes people feel some type of way about me. I get it. I know my intentions; I always want to support job seekers and when I DO disagree with others, I am careful to focus on their CONTENT – not their CHARACTER. But I am not going to sacrifice my authenticity on the altar of likability.

I won’t suffer spineless, attention seeking trolls, either.

Now here’s the biggest lesson of all, and one that I’ve tried to teach my beloved job seeking community –

NOT EVERY MESSAGE (COMMENT, POST, TWEET) DESERVES A RESPONSE.

So I guess another one of those “not really a resolution” resolutions is going to be to stop feeding the trolls. The latest example was the wildest piece of fiction I’ve read in a while. After a little research a few of us figured out that this particular hater is actually NOT who they portray themselves to be, which made the whole thing even more sad. The leaps in logic, the personal attacks, the lies… the individual is clearly disturbed. Besides that – those things simply do not require or deserve your attention. Or mine.

There are desperate attention seekers who don’t have the slightest shred of self-respect – let alone any respect for YOU, dear reader. By giving them oxygen, it feeds the fire of their fantasy. The fantasy that someone cares. That they matter. That ANY press is GOOD press. (think about it – how bad do you have to be at sales if the only way you can garner views is by making up wild stories about total strangers simply because they have a following and you don’t?) That the ATTENTION they’re getting by riding your coattails somehow turns into RESPECT.

It doesn’t. It never will.