If you’re of a certain age, you know what it’s like to live through company layoffs. It’s pure hell. Paranoia lays a weird filter over every intra-company experience. If you know someone who got laid off, you just feel awful for them. At least I do.
With the economy pumping out more and more bad news, the likelihood that you or someone you know will be laid off increases every day. TechCrunch has even started tracking the demise in the tech sector.
So. What I suggest is we take a pro-active step in making the transition a little smoother for at least one person (more is better!) in our social network– should it unfortunately happen to them. I’d like to establish Wednesday, October 29, 2008 LinkedIn Pay it Forward Day. It’s simple, choose one person in your social network and write a LinkedIn recommendation for them on that day. Everyone has worked with someone in their network who is deserving of a positive recommendation. The randomness of the recommendation will make it satisfying for you and the recipient.
There’s not much we can do collectively to arrest the hemorrhaging in our economy, but we can take a few charitable actions to assist others who are affected by it.
Popularity: 64% [?]
10 users commented in " LinkedIn Pay it Forward Day "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackGreat idea! Layoffs are rough, and seeing the potential in LinkedIn can bring hope to someone going through one. Building up the people in your network will certainly build the strength of that network itself. One my way over to LinkedIn right now!
Great idea, I have added this to my calendar and will participate. LinkedIn has great potential and actions like this should make everyone involved better off than when they started.
great idea Susan
This is a stroke of genius. I love the notion that “The randomness of the recommendation will make it satisfying for you and the recipient.”
Will definitely spread the word!
Wow, such an impressive idea.
I’m a firm believer in providing testimonials where they are due. I will certainly play my part on October 29th.
Excellent idea- and what an easy way to do something nice for someone else!
Susan, I think it’s a great idea and I will most certainly pay it forward.
Feel free to find my profile on Linkedin and throw a blurb my way as well, since, my last day as a full time employee is Friday. I’m being asked to maintain the blog and some web properties on an ad hoc very very part time basis, but I’ve already noticed that the blog is starting to take on a “fuck you atttitude”.
Guess the value of driving over 80,000 people to the blogsite in a year, and over 15,000 to the corporate site and the speaking and guest writing gigs were not enough. I suppose they can find someone else who can maintain, the other 80 websites, the web marketing, the seo, the online presence, the ppc and the graphics work for less. Bitter? who me? Nah, just more motivated.
Marc
Done! great idea Susan!
[...] » LinkedIn Pay it Forward Day Taking it Personal: The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but&… – Susan Scrupski with a wonderfully generous idea: a "pay it forward" day in LinkedIn, where you pick one of your contacts at random and write a recommendation for them. Who knows when any of us might be looking for a job sometime soon and need that recommendation? [...]
Susan – This was a great idea last fall, and it’s an even better idea today. Time for a repeat?
Leave A Reply