Each week, Dr Kirstin Ferguson tackles questions on workplace, career and leadership in her advice column, “Got a Minute?” This week: a fishy LinkedIn message, a clunky new boss and job-hunting at 55.
Despite what some people seem to think, pretending to be someone else online is never OK.Credit: Dionne Gain
I recently discovered my boss has been catfishing me on LinkedIn using someone else’s profile. The other person, who is a connection of my boss on LinkedIn, is a recruiter. I had been contacted by the “recruiter” about a role, but as soon as I responded, their profile disappeared. I think my boss was testing my loyalty, but it felt like entrapment. My boss holds the keys to my career progression in an otherwise good company. Is there anything I can do?
Hold the phone. Your boss did what? Pretending to be someone else online is not OK and the behaviour of your boss is way out of line. If they are comfortable doing this to you, they may also be catfishing other people in other ways. Creepy stuff.
But are you 100 per cent sure? Do you know for a fact it was your boss? If so, I think you have every right to raise this with someone at work. While you might feel uncomfortable admitting you responded to a recruiter, that is way less weird than your boss behaving this way.
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However – and I can’t emphasise this enough – unless you are positive it was your boss, proceed with caution. There are loads of weirdos online, including people on LinkedIn who get in touch about jobs that don’t exist: a bog-standard spam or phishing attempt. Could that have happened in your case? Second, if the connection of your boss were a legitimate recruiter, they would, most likely, not agree to do this. It is far too risky for their reputation. They would also not delete their LinkedIn profile, or have it “disappear”, since their business depends on LinkedIn.
Ultimately, you have done nothing wrong. Responding to an interesting new job enquiry is perfectly fine, so if you feel your boss is blocking your progress, take it further.
I have been working for the government for a few years in a mid-level role. After a change in government, I got a new boss. I’m not sure whether I’m being overly sensitive, but I get the feeling she really dislikes me. My boss recently thanked my project team for a completed piece of work and sent it to everyone in the working group except me. She also said during our first one-on-one that a degree is just a piece of paper, and she doesn’t believe in being promoted just because of that, knowing I have multiple degrees. I got along really well with my last boss and have never badmouthed a single person during my career, but I don’t know what to do.
It sounds like you have a few orange flags but not necessarily red flags yet. If you and your last boss got along well, it is only natural that someone new will take time on your part to get used to. To me, your new boss sounds (a) careless and (b) clunky: let me explain.
