Summary
Glenn Stovall changed his first name on LinkedIn to a wolf emoji. When he is contacted by recruiters, he can tell if the message was automated because the first name is the wolf emoji pulled directly from the first name field on LinkedIn rather than his actual first name which is alongside his last name in the last name field.
Thoughts
I would do this if I got more spam from recruiters on LinkedIn.
Interviewing the interviewer is very important to make sure you’re competing for something that is worth competing for. If you’re always coming from a place of desperation, a measure like this can seem unthinkable. We have to be picky, even when we’re not in the best bargaining position, in order to get the best results.
I would recommend this to people in my audience, but I believe they would think it’s crazy given many of them are looking for their first jobs. They need the most opportunities they can have. They don’t want to be eliminating them.
I eliminated opportunities even when I had very few. This is what allowed me to earn $100k in my first full-time gig as a web developer. I realize I was coming from a place of relative privilege: I had healthcare coverage through my wife’s employer. We had a low cost of living and made enough to get by even without my making anything. I had a year of salary saved to pay myself.
Similar
I have stumbled into some noise filtering strategies like this related to robocalls. After moving, I knew that any relevant anonymous calls (from people not in my contacts) would be from Seattle’s 206 area code. By keeping my old area code (865), I can easily recognize an undesired call: it’s from the 865 area code and doesn’t show up as a registered contact.
I can also easily eliminate any calls about extended warranties since I don’t have a car.