The master of silence, the most appreciated degree on LinkedIn?

These days, the news is written with headlines about hyper-hormonal curricula of public positions , of commercialized universities that sell masters of exotic names to clean up their losses accounts and reputable business schools that use the good name of foreign universities to luster diplomas issued to students who do not have undergone exams to certify the acquisition of such knowledge that later they include in their professional profiles on LinkedIn.

That it is one thing to decorate the curriculum with phrases such as "medium level of English" and quite another to make the curriculum pure adornment in which just pass the cotton test of the truth the mentions to sex, age and marital status.

Related

linkedin and the culture of effort

One hoped that this scandal, which calls into question the general discourse of "culture of effort" and reduces the credibility of politicians and educational institutions while depressing teachers and students in need of stimuli to face an uncertain future, had Reflection in the form of comments outraged in the network of talent search and job opportunities par excellence: LinkedIn.

However, beyond communication consultants, talking about his book relating it to this question ("I have been interviewed in La Sexta"), little has been said in this social network about the phantom degrees of that is spoken in television gatherings, press, bars, offices and bus stops... Come on, in the world beyond the computer or mobile screen.

This issue if it has monopolized a good number of conversations on other networks such as Facebook or Twitter , which makes the silence on LinkedIn even more thunderous.Perhaps it is so that the enthusiasm of all who participate in that professional network does not diminish; "Always positive, never negative," an old soccer coach would say. Either he may not follow the right people, or maybe there is a fear of eroding "the personal brand."

fear and transparency

Fear in the society of transparency? Well, thinkers like Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, Byung-Chul Han or Morozov have talked a lot about this, taking the witness of Foucault, who already warned about "a conscious and permanent state of visibility that guarantees the automatic functioning of the power ".Another thinker, Remedios Zafra, also speaks of the" enthusiasm "instrumentalized in an environment of precariousness and competitiveness as a form of domestication.

And, in the environment that LinkedIn can represent, it seems that the space for the expression of opinions, beyond the professional, is limited to a corner of a dark room with sound insulation in its thick walls. As a friend in that network used to tell me, "although (the scandal of the masters) deals with labor issues, openly commenting on these issues in which the political premium may seem to take your feet off the plate." Whether the political, understood as an interest in the collective, should be reserved for the private sector, as if the defense of ethical values, even political, was incompatible with overcoming a selection process. As if the professional practice were oblivious to the exercise of citizenship.Rare, isn't it?

self-censorship on linkedin?

At this point, it is worth asking whether the self-censorship of the LinkedIn community offers us a faithful portrait of the real demand by companies of capable but critical workers -curious in an environment where The concept of innovation has become a mantra, which arises from a critical questioning of what is established-or we are facing a generalized attitude of self-censorship without real justification, but motivated by the fear of appearing "problematic."

If either of these two hypotheses is confirmed, we will be faced with a worrying situation in which silence could add more value to a curriculum than academic achievements -dotted by the shadow of doubt due to scandal of these days-or the career path.

Is this a solid base to face a future that demands, rather than answers to old questions, new questions that should be asked and answered among all? Let everyone, in front of the screen, reflect.

I finish these lines remembering that the Swedish Prime Minister is a welder.