Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Both women demonstrate the pettiness of females in the workplaces today. I've gotten into these types of silly exchanges but between men it never gets carried out in public.
The old saying if you guys disagree with each other, take it outside and duke it out yourself. Women like to spar in front of others for sport.
The younger woman is also a bully. The recruiter was rude to her, but in a private manner. The younger woman decided to humiliate her publicly and also publicize her name. It's not like the recruiter was actively telling people not to hire her. I also find it odd, the first young woman didn't post how she contacted her. I think they both reacted badly. I think the young woman was worse. This was about the younger lady wanting to get a job or connections, I don't think she helped her cause at all.
I beleive in her original blog, the young woman blocked out Blazek's name. The problem was that so many other people recognized the writing style and began to recall their own nasty encounters with Blazek that the readers figured it out quickly.
This is one of those instances where the word "bully" gets thrown around too freely IMO. This girl didn't do anything wrong. She had no way of knowing that her post would go viral, she had no way of knowing that so many other people would come out of the woodwork. Lots of young people have blogs they use to talk to their friends and whatnot. The vast majority post all kinds of things and don't end up on CNN.
I have been on both sides of this dispute, so I see both sides. We are not seeing both sides of the story.
I notice the original invite from Ms. Mekota has not been published.
I already know without knowing, it was one of those automated impersonal invites generated by LinkedIn.
A lot of junior professionals have not been schooled in business writing and etiquette. Ms. Blazek could have mentored through her response rather than chastised the inviter. If I don't recognize someone who has sent me a linkedin invite, I'll typically write back something like, "Help me jog my memory. Where have you and I connected outside LinkedIn." With the email blasts from third party recruiters or salespeople, I typically archive those or reply that once the inviter and I have done more business together I would be happy to connect. I would not mind so much but for the fact they will have full access to my connections while theirs are almost always blocked.
I received a snub letter once from a male executive who runs one of the professional groups I belong to. I sent him an invitation after hearing him speak at an event attended by hundreds. His tone, "Oh how dare you send me a LinkedIn invite. I have rules. I don't let everybody onto my list. I've never met you." I stood up for myself by replying that I also had discreet standards of who I networked with and that I regretted he would not be able to join my network."
I've also been on the Blazek side. I recently accepted an invite from an acquaintance that was one of the auto-invites, nothing personal besides my name. I replied to the invite with a note referencing where we knew one another from, but have yet to receive a small personal reply. I noticed this person (who is in the same field as I am in) who has known me for three years, has recently been laid-off. Kind of wondering why they never wanted to connect while they were working and I am seriously thinking about uninviting them if I don't hear from them in the near future.
What is the point of a connect request that isn't self-serving? If it won't help the person sending it, why are they sending it? Do you go to work to earn a paycheck and have it deposited to YOUR checking account? That's self serving. Why don't you have it deposited to a random person's bank account each week. That would be less self serving.
I really hope there was something I missed there... otherwise it just seems like an absurdly obvious statement.
If I get you right, you are interpreting that I am critical of a LinkedIn request having a self-serving motive. That is not the point I was trying to make. If that was my intent then I would be agreeing with the woman who ripped into the young job seeker for being what she judged "self-serving". It is the woman I am calling a bully who is out of touch with the purpose of developing a network of connections via LinkedIn. So good thing she ended up closing out her profile, because she evidently does not get it!
I beleive in her original blog, the young woman blocked out Blazek's name. The problem was that so many other people recognized the writing style and began to recall their own nasty encounters with Blazek that the readers figured it out quickly.
This is one of those instances where the word "bully" gets thrown around too freely IMO. This girl didn't do anything wrong. She had no way of knowing that her post would go viral, she had no way of knowing that so many other people would come out of the woodwork. Lots of young people have blogs they use to talk to their friends and whatnot. The vast majority post all kinds of things and don't end up on CNN.
According to the article in the OP, the younger lady asked people to repost it all over the place.
This young woman's actions were far from heroic. They were petty and ill advised. However I think if you don't want something you are saying made public you shouldn't be saying them, and this lady deserves what she gets. And I agree with you completely this woman's surprise that people are acting primarily in the best interest in linkedin is so foolish I don't know where to start. She must be living in lala land.
I would agree with you in that I would not call the young woman a hero by virtue of calling her actions heroic. I just would not equate their actions. The woman who had a very public profile because of the specific nature of her work was in the power position and should have conducted herself with professionalism. In fact, a person who does not have a clearly defined relative position of power, or even a subordinate in certain circumstances can employ bullying tactics. In this case, however, I would choose to classify the young lady as having retaliated rather than bullied. The reason why is because we would have zero tolerance for standing up to the kind of aggression shown by the "professional" woman if anyone who retaliates against aggression is also called a bully...it's a bit of a gray area.
I also agree with you that the job seeker could have also brought unanticipated backlash upon herself by going so public. Good point.
Do you think head hunters contact you solely for your own benefit? It's give and take.
I have made some great contacts in my field on LinkedIn. Someday, we might need each other.
LinkedIn is supposed to be self-serving. It's networking. If the young lady had nothing to offer, the marketing woman should have simply declined. End of story.
I think what people don't get if they think the younger lady is totally in the right, is that you don't bring a gun to a knife fight to put it crassly. The older lady was rude, but honestly it's not like she was going around or said "Don't hire her. She annoyed me on Linked". We don't know how the younger lady approached her. After ONE interaction, the younger girl was out to bring the lady down. IMO, the email wasn't that offensive. Maybe the reason the younger lady is looking for connections (a new/different job) is because she overreacts to every thing and that's why she's not in the job/salary she wants. If this is how she reacts to an email, imagine how she reacts to something worse or high pressure situations.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
