#2: The Unexpected Joys of Networking
Plus, "white fonting" explained & the feminist crime show of your dreams.
Laid Off Life is a place of respite for the weary workforce. Whether you’re unemployed, on strike or just trying to make it through the workday, let this be your 5-minute mental break from the grind of late-stage capitalism.
In this weekly newsletter, you’ll find musings and insights about work and life, things I’m finding useful (or useless) in my job search, and recs about worthy ways to waste time - from articles to TV shows and podcasts and beyond.
The Unexpected Joys of Networking
I don’t know about you, but for me, networking has always felt like a slightly dirty prospect. I guess because it feels transactional. You want something from another person (a job, their business, their contacts) or visa versa. So, you might be shocked to learn that the most affirming part of my job search has been networking.
In the last six months, I’ve had meetings with countless people. Not every meeting has been great, but for the most part, I’ve been blown away by how overwhelmingly helpful and supportive my network has been. People I haven’t talked to for over a decade have stuck their necks out to get my resume in front of hiring managers, or introduced me to colleagues they thought would be helpful. I’ve reconnected with people I’m sorry I ever lost with touch in the first place, forged relationships with ex-coworkers I never had much time to get to know while I was running on the rat wheel, and have been connected with strangers I now consider friends. Being on the receiving end, these acts of generosity hardly feel transactional. They just feel…nice.
When you’re deep in the wormhole at work, it’s easy to forget that there’s a whole universe outside of your seemingly urgent daily tasks. Tapping into your community serves as an important reminder that you are supported and respected as a professional – something that’s easy to forget when you are applying into an echo chamber. Talking to people who know what you’re capable of and believe in you is an antidote to the endless rejection cycle that is job seeking.
I’m reminded that cultivating and maintaining relationships is just as important (if not more important) than being an A+ performer at your company. Because…a company isn’t a person. Once it’s finished with you, don’t expect to hear from it again. With the understanding that job safety is merely an illusion, connections are the true lifeblood of our careers. No matter where I land next, I vow to make investing in connections with people a personal metric for success.
Useful/Useless?
In which I investigate job-seeking hacks and determine their usefulness.
“White Fonting” Your Way to Success
A job-seeking hack called “white fonting” is sweeping TikTok.” Basically, you copy keywords from the description of the job you’re applying for and paste them into your resume, changing the font color to white so that they can only be seen by the A.I. bots screening your resume.
According to @farahsharghi, TikTokers who have never worked in HR don’t know what they’re talking about and she explains why “white fonting” is useless. Maybe just spend a few minutes tweaking your resume for each job?
Worthy Time Wasters
And now for some fun stuff! Here are my weekly recs to combat doom scrolling.
LISTEN: The Girlfriends
Picture this: 1995, Las Vegas, Nevada, a group of Jewish women looking for husbands. Enter Bob Bierenbaum, a nice, Jewish plastic surgeon who flies planes and speaks several languages. Bob reveals something shocking to one of those eligible bachelorettes, Carole Fisher, on their first date. His wife Gail Katz went missing and Bob was a suspect in her disappearance. He was investigated and eventually cleared by police, but the revelation doesn’t sit well with Carole — especially after Bob dumped her. Before long, Bob’s ex-girlfriends form a club dedicated to eating noodles and figuring out what happened to Gail. The Girlfriends, hosted by ex-girlfriend Carole Fisher, follows her journey to find out more about Gail’s disappearance murder. Major Robert Durst vibes!
WATCH: Deadloch (Amazon Prime)
Finally! A feminist crime procedural that strikes the perfect balance between comedy and suspense. The series follows two, odd couple female detectives as they hunt for a killer in a small town in Tasmania. Deadloch tackles sexism, racism, homophobia, colonization and toxic masculinity all while sending you on a twisty, turn-y, packed with laughs journey that keeps you guessing whodunnit until the very last episode. Plus, you’ll learn great Aussie slang like bumming and toorah!
WATCH: Nothing Compares (Showtime)
I’m going to rewatch Nothing Compares in honor of Sinéad OʼConnorʼs passing. The film is an exploration of the singer’s rise, fall and enduring cultural impact told mostly through archival materials from her career. The most heartbreaking part is hearing Sinéad talk about her severely abusive upbringing and why music was her salvation.
READ: Nobody Cares About David Grusch’s UFO Revelations (Forbes)
Last week we found out that the U.S. recovered non-human “biologics” (so…bodies?) from UFO crash sites, and collectively, we shrugged because we have too many problems on Earth to care about aliens. Related or unrelated? Elon Musk rebranding Twitter as X and then changing his mind. Mitch McConnell glitching during a press conference. The truth is out there! And so are funny memes and more funny memes!
SUBSCRIBE: Patti Smith’s Substack,The Reader Is My Notebook
Following Patti Smith’s Substack really is like reading an artist’s notebook. Rifle through a treasure trove of content (mostly behind the paywall) to find a mixture of poems, readings, recollections, messages, musings, songs and her first-ever serial, The Melting.
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Have thoughts? Leave a comment or email me at laidofflife@substack.com.