Let’s cut the shit, I’ve been unemployed for the three months since graduating, and I’m not alone. I’ve done it all: networking, coffee chats, even sending handwritten letters like it’s the 70s. Still nothing. It doesn’t matter if you graduated with honors or have a damn engineering degree. We aren’t the problem. It’s the absolute chaos and mismanagement of job platforms that were never built to actually help us get hired.

And yes, I’m looking at you LinkedIn.

Like every other desperate unemployed overachiever, I spend at least 30 minutes scrolling through my feed on LinkedIn. You never know when one of your dream companies will announce a job posting. But instead of an opportunity, I stumbled on a LinkedIn influencer. And I don’t mean a recruiter with tips. I mean full-blown, self-branded content creation. I instantly scrolled. What can I say? I’m the type of person who will instantly swipe past if I feel that the creator has nothing impactful to say. But something about it felt off. Like why are we creating influencer content on a platform that’s supposed to help people get hired? Turns out, my gut was right. This is not the vibe.

Fast forward to a week later, I found out that LinkedIn let go of roughly 300 of their employees. This was shocking to me considering I feel that the platform is deeply struggling. Literally if there’s any platform that needs more help right now, it’s this one. Between the scams, fake job listings, and ghost jobs, it’s incredibly hard for job seekers to put their trust in the damn site. So why let go of the people who could actually fix it? That was until I saw a wave of “LinkedIn influencers” posting their pretty little PR packages from the company. Suddenly everything made sense.

They don’t want to fix the platform; they want to rebrand it.

LinkedIn is trying to pivot from a job board to a social media platform. Apparently it wants to be a full-blown social media platform. Less job search, more content creator discovery hub. And honestly? It’s giving “please think we’re cool” energy. Like, on their hands and knees kissing our toes begging. Just another brand trying so hard to stay relevant online, while totally dropping the ball on what they were actually built to do and why people even visit their site in the first place.

But this isn’t just a LinkedIn thing; it’s an industry-wide pivot. Just one small example of how the industry is starting to shift into a direction that cares more about influencers.

Brands are starting to care more about getting reposted by influencers than actually building products or platforms that work. I mean we’ve seen it already with a boom in the influencer partnership industry. One timely review from a micro creator can outsell an entire ad campaign, and companies know it. Times are changing. They’re changing fast and brands are struggling to keep up.

So instead of hiring people to fix broken systems, they’re sending out PR boxes and prompt decks asking creators to post for free in exchange for exposure and a vague sense of brand alignment. It’s sneaky. It’s strategic. And it’s kind of genius if you’re the one running the brand.

At this point, it’s not about building careers. It’s about building brands: yours, theirs, everyone’s. LinkedIn isn’t failing because people stopped trying. It’s failing because the brand stopped being about work and started being about performance. Companies aren’t just hiring anymore; they’re curating. They don’t want employees; they want personalities that will bring them far. They don’t want effort; they want engagement. And if we don’t clock what’s really going on, we’re going to miss the shift entirely.

While we’re out here refreshing job boards and writing the perfect cover letter, the game is being played somewhere else. In followers, in impressions, in how well you can package yourself as a brand. If that makes you feel delusional, you’re not wrong. But that’s also the point. Delusion is the new strategy. Visibility is the new currency.

If we don’t pivot too, we risk getting left behind. Jobless, pissed, and wishing we hopped on the train before it left the station. Say it’s unfair. Say it’s messy. But don’t say you didn’t see it coming. This is the new reality.

And babe, you’re either shaking the martini or choking on the olive. It’s your choice.

Choose your poison wisely. This game’s only getting dirtier.

Keep Spilling Babes, xx.