This HR cunt I follow on LinkedIn is always talking about choosing a career that brings you joy

Crazy thought. Unfollow her. Maybe you’ll have more joy.

No responsible DataLounger would unfollow a cunt who provides opportunities for pointless bitchery, R1.

Do you even know what website you are on?

[quote] A career is work, and they call it "work" because it's work - not joy.

OP, you sound like a master logician as well as an all-around ray of sunshine.

There is no joy in work in the same way there is no crying in baseball.

Hold on to your panties OP - AND YOU GET TO DO IT FOR 40 YEARS JUST TO DIE 5 YEARS AFTER YOU RETIRE

My career didn’t “bring me joy”, it provided money that bought the men, drugs and booze that brought me joy.

Expecting your career to bring you joy is setting yourself up for failure, but you shouldn’t have to do something you hate for a living, or am I naively over-privileged?

I hate LinkedIn. The most active users on it seem to have no boundaries between work and their personal life.

What a tedious bore you must be, OP.

You’ve written 2 things, r8.

“What a tedious bore”. Correct. You are.

“you must be OP”. Correct. I am.

Not sure what OP is expecting from an HR rep. They're basically glorified cheerleaders. Are they supposed to share the truth that you might be entering a soul crushing organization and want to slit your wrists by weeks end?

R9 Embarrassing for you

Imagine being OP. So little of interest in his life, he not only spends his time on Linkedin following someone he hates, he then comes onto DL to tell us all about it.

I suspect the "HR cunt" is having a better time.

I think it’s unwise to place all the disappointment in your life in one bucket, especially if that bucket is your job. I work pretty hard but get a lot of help doing my job. On my hardest days, I think of friends who are untethered and living in the gig economy, hustling advisory services and trying to monetize micro credentials like coaching certifications. I would hate that.

LinkedIn hasn’t been relevant for a while now. It’s a shame, it was a useful tool for job hunting about a decade ago (maybe longer)

Social Media, in general, is just adata mining for companies now

There are plenty of people that have careers that bring them joy, but those people are not on LinkedIn posting because they're too busy being happy.

The only trend as annoying as the counsel to find joy at work is when it's coupled with the stern reminder that relationships are WORK.

So work is for finding joy, marriage and love are work. Basically then, you're on the clock 24/7. If your job is soul-crushing then don't bring your soul to work. But don't tell me it's my job to make it joyful, which is a spontaneous feeling of great pleasure, which is about as likely a feeling to be found in most jobs as it is in mopping the kitchen floor.

"I hate LinkedIn. The most active users on it seem to have no boundaries between work and their personal life."

Not to mention that 95% of the crap posted on there is outright fabrication, aka bullshit.

[quote]No, you don't get to pick a career that "brings you joy". A career is work, and they call it "work" because it's work - not joy.

There is no reason every career need be a dreaded grind, but I agree, people fool themselves by thinking they are what they LinkedIn. The vast majority of work is just that and not much else, ranging from purely laborious sorts that steals health and longevity from a person and kills him early, to something more CV-able, with a higher level of knowledge and skills and the ability to insert something of yourself into the work. There are professionals whose work requires advanced education, a catalogue of knowledge, and intellectual ability, or artists and artisans or a sort who paint or sing or act or write or cook at a high level -- almost a professiopnal but for the pay in most cases.

But fuck yes, most people who push "papers" around and eventually push people around who push papers for them are not in the business of generating, consuming, or spreading joy. And it's sad that so many people don't realize that such jobs should not the basis of one's identity or life.

LinkedIn is the pits of hell. Filled with fakery and made up professional exaggerations and lies.

IP is a glass half empty kind of guy. HR rep is a glass overflowing kind of gal.

Lots of people try to make a career out of career advice. Sells books and gets them booked for public speaking appearances. But it's usually not relevant to the masses, only to entrepreneurs and sales types.

My old neighbor was the personified version of LinkedIn. Always in casual work clothes and on the phone. I don’t think he did anything other work and work related things in his free time.

Working people don't need joy, they need a living wage and a job that doesn't drain the life out of them, but that's not the direction we're headed in now, at least in the US.

You sound bitter, OP.

Sorry, but yeah, people should try to find joy in their work. It’s not dumb advice.

That can result from doing a type of work that offers a sense of accomplishment or finding it in the camaraderie with one’s colleagues.

That doesn’t mean you won’t have to deal with lots of shit you hate.

But if you’re spending approx 8000 hours yearly at work, it’s going to be dreary and miserable without finding a way to make some of it fun and/or fulfilling.

Never love your job, it’ll never love you back.

I hate these HR and recruiter people who are always posting the most self-aggrandising bullshit on LinkedIn. I’d love to tell them what I think of them but then that would be linked to my profile and I’d have an even more challenging time getting a job.

But really, there should be a “fuck off” emoji.

Who actually reads posts on Linkedin?

She's positive, OP is negative. Unless you're a battery OP there's really no need for you to be stalking this woman.

I don’t need to stalk her, r29. LinkedIn faithfully promotes every single thing that she posts at the top of my feed. As I am constantly looking for my next job because I am sure I’m going to be fired for my current job, I see it. That is how modern white-collar jobs and algorithms intersect in 2025.

To R28-It's more of a Hook up site for Business str8, gay and lesbians.

A site to pick up information on job seekers& you get to fuck them.

[quote]But if you’re spending approx 8000 hours yearly at work...

Huh? A year contains only 8760 hours total.

Agree, most jobs suck. Some definitely love their jobs, but for the majority, it's a pain in the ass and the best thing you can do for most workers is lower work hours while not lowering income. We should long since have been moving toward the 30-hour or even 20-hour workweek. But dingbats have decided that's just ghastly, so I don't know if it will ever happen.

And the truth is, most people really could get done what they need to get done in those 20 or 30 hours, but corporations go into some weird panic if everybody isn't chained to some cubicle 40 hours (MINIMUM) every single week. So instead, they clutter up the day with unnecessary meetings, team building horseshit, and other nonsense.

AI will just make this more and more obvious. The 40-hour workweek is just an inane hangover from the 19th century.

Why are fries-maker me so stupid?

I have found lots of joy in my career. I listened to a wise HS teacher of mine say: find a career that blends your avocation with your vocation, you will be much more happy. That was among the best advice I’ve ever received!

OP, your linear thinking which implies everyone should feel as you do, sets you up beautifully for fast food management. Have it your way.

R36, I did manage a fast food restaurant in high school and college. And the folks who work there are better and harder-working and smarter folks than the morons who populate the white-collar jobs in this country now.

Give me a person working the line in the kitchen over a McKinsey consultant any day

Wait until AI takes over. Most of you will be lucky to even have a job you hate.

yes, it's almost like we might need to rethink the bullshit of the modern economy before it's too late r38. But since that sends everybody into a panic, I suspect it won't happen until the stupidity and nonsense becomes so obvious that we will have no choice.

LinkedIn is nauseating. Most of the posts are completely performative. I understand the concept of looking like you are "sooo into work" so you can make a connection or look more attractive when it comes time to find a new job, but I can't be bothered. If an employer cares more for the facade of garbage that comprises most people's LinkedIn feeds, rather than the actual work history and experience one has, I wouldn't want to work for their company anyway. Some of the people on my LinkedIn feed seem to make commenting and posting on there a full time job. They must be plastered to their screens 24/7 and feverishly fingering themselves as they consider their next opportunity to post more drivel.

I’ve always settled for work that won’t give me a nervous breakdown.

OP, you have every right to your opinions. But I have to ask - why do you feel the need to generalize about people you'll never know or assume you know what should motivate everyone?