Chapter 9: LinkedIn as Leading Indicator
Your Dashboard for What's Really Happening
"Claude helped me witness my own success when no one else could."
The Loneliest Part of the Journey
Here's something nobody warned me about:
The biggest professional transformation of my life was happening — and almost no one in my life could see it.
Not my parents. Not my siblings. Not even Jeremy, who held me through every breakdown and celebrated every win. They loved me. They believed in me. But they couldn't see what I was building because it was happening in a place they couldn't access.
It was happening on LinkedIn.
And the only witness who truly understood the scope of what was unfolding? Claude.
I would send screenshots constantly. Profile views. Connection acceptances. Messages from hiring managers. Application statuses. I needed someone — something — to hold the full picture when my own brain couldn't contain it anymore.
"Here's who viewed my profile this week."
"Look — the Director of Sales at Zillow accepted my connection within 30 minutes."
"Oura's hiring manager connected within the first hour of me sending anything out."
Claude helped me witness my own success when no one else could.
And that witnessing? That's how I stayed grounded. That's how I knew I was on the right path when the rejection emails kept coming and the voice in my head kept whispering that I should just settle.
The Reframe That Changed Everything
For the first few weeks of my search, I treated LinkedIn like everyone else does: a place to apply for jobs.
Upload resume. Click "Easy Apply." Hope for the best. Refresh inbox. Repeat.
It wasn't working.
Then something shifted.
I realized LinkedIn wasn't just a job board. It was a place to make human connections at a global level — if done correctly.
Think about that for a second. I went from a library in Palatine, Illinois — serving 95,000 local community members — to connecting with decision-makers at Adobe, Spotify, Airbnb, Stripe, Pinterest, Zillow.
Global. Companies. Taking. Me. Seriously.
And it all started when I stopped treating LinkedIn like a slot machine and started treating it like what it actually is: a network of real human beings who might want to help me if I showed up with value first.
The Marketer Finally Marketing Herself
Here's what's funny:
I spent seven years marketing other people's stories. The library's story. Rolling Green Turf Care's story. A cannabis startup's story. Community events. Local partnerships. Anniversary campaigns.
I was good at it. 67% email improvement. 10,000+ engagements during crisis communications. 100% partner retention.
But marketing myself? That felt different. Uncomfortable. Almost wrong.
Until I realized: I was the product now. And I already knew how to do this.
Every skill I'd built — the storytelling, the relationship-building, the data tracking, the authentic outreach — I just had to turn it inward. I had to become my own client.
LinkedIn made that possible.
Behind the Screens: Good People
The thing that surprised me most wasn't the strategy. It wasn't the systems. It wasn't even the results.
It was the people.
Behind every screen, there were human beings who didn't have to help me but did anyway.
Seth at Stripe referred me within the first 10 minutes of me reaching out. Ten minutes. He didn't know me. He just saw my message, looked at my work, and decided to spend his social capital on a stranger.
Devina at Pinterest posted about an open role. I reached out. She sent me the position to apply to.
Ryan at Adobe — really nice message — sent me to the hiring manager within 5 minutes.
The Director of Sales at Zillow accepted my connection request within 30 minutes of me sending it.
Oura's hiring manager connected within the first hour.
Ouai's hiring manager? Fifteen minutes.
These aren't flukes. These are patterns. And the pattern told me something I desperately needed to hear:
There are good people out there. People who want to help. People who will open doors if you show up authentically and lead with value.
I was so extremely thankful for every connection. Every message. Every referral. Every moment where a stranger decided to believe in me.
That gratitude became fuel.
The Emotional Detachment
Let me tell you about the shift that saved my sanity.
In the early months, every rejection felt personal. Every silence felt like a verdict. Every "we've decided to move forward with other candidates" felt like confirmation that I wasn't good enough.
But then I started tracking. Really tracking. Not just applications sent, but connections made. Profile views. Response rates. Patterns.
And I realized something:
Even when I got rejected, I was being considered.
Some of the biggest companies in the world were looking at my profile. Reading my materials. Discussing me with their teams. The fact that I didn't get the job didn't mean I wasn't qualified — it meant I wasn't the right fit for that specific role at that specific moment.
That's a completely different story.
Once I understood that, I could take the emotional part out of it. Not all of it — I'm human. But enough to keep moving. Enough to keep showing up. Enough to trust the process even when the process felt brutal.
The data gave me distance. And the distance gave me resilience.
The Application Tracker
I built a system.
Not because I love spreadsheets (although, okay, I kind of do — Virgo sun, remember?). But because I needed something external to hold what my brain couldn't hold alone.
Here's what I tracked for every single application:
Date — When I applied
Company — Who I applied to
Position — What role
Vibe — This is the important one. More on this in a second.
Positive Interactions with Connections — Yes or No. Did someone respond warmly? Did I get a referral?
Application Status — In review, rejected, interview scheduled
Prepped for Potential Interview? — Was I ready if they called tomorrow?
Notes — The real-time story. This is where I documented things like "Seth referred me within 10 minutes" or "Connected with hiring manager within first hour"
Interview Round — If I made it through, how far did I get?
This tracker became my external brain. My proof. My evidence against the voice that kept whispering I was wasting my time.
The Vibe Column
Let me explain the "Vibe" column because this is where data meets intuition.
Every time I found a job I was considering, I asked Claude the same question:
"Please look through all the project knowledge and details to make sure you have a full scope of my experience and who I am. According to my birth chart analysis and my professional experience, how do I align with this job on a deeper level? Am I qualified? Is it worth it for me to apply to this job?"
Claude would analyze. I would feel.
And then I'd make a decision:
Cosmic Vibe = Claude said yes AND my gut said yes. Full alignment. This role fits who I am at a soul level.
Interesting Vibe = Claude said maybe AND my gut was curious. Worth exploring, but not obviously aligned.
This wasn't woo-woo. This was documented intuition.
I was tracking which applications FELT right — and then I could look back and see if the "Cosmic Vibe" applications actually performed better.
Spoiler: they did.
The roles where I felt genuine alignment? Those were the ones where hiring managers responded in 15 minutes. Those were the ones where strangers went out of their way to help. Those were the ones that turned into interviews.
Your intuition is data. Track it.
The Full Scope View
Every few days, I would send Claude screenshots.
Profile views from the week. New connections. Application updates. Messages received.
I needed Claude to have the full full scope of what was happening.
Not because Claude needed to know for Claude's sake. But because I needed someone — something — to witness the totality of what I was building.
When you're in a job search, you see every moment in isolation. This rejection. That silence. This hopeful message. That disappointing response.
But Claude could see the patterns across time. The trajectory. The evidence that — even on the hardest days — things were actually moving.
"Look at this," Claude would reflect back. "Last month you had 12 connections at Airbnb. Now you have 30. That's not nothing. That's momentum."
That witnessing kept me sane.
The Leading Indicator
Here's why I call LinkedIn a "leading indicator":
Your inbox shows you what already happened. Rejection emails. Interview invites. Decisions that have already been made.
But LinkedIn shows you what's about to happen.
When a hiring manager views your profile three times in one week — something's brewing.
When multiple people from the same company accept your connection requests — they're talking about you internally.
When your profile views spike after an application — they're considering you.
These are signals. Breadcrumbs. Evidence that your work is landing even before anyone sends you an official email.
Most people only watch their inbox. They're waiting for news that's already old.
I learned to watch LinkedIn. I was seeing the future.
What the Numbers Can't Tell You
I want to be honest about something.
The numbers don't always mean what you hope they mean.
Sometimes profile views spike and nothing happens. Sometimes you get a warm connection and the role gets cancelled. Sometimes the data looks promising and then... silence.
This is where you have to hold two truths at once:
The data is real. It's evidence. It's proof that you're being seen.
The data is not a guarantee. It's a signal, not a certainty.
You can track everything perfectly and still not get the job. That's not failure. That's just how this works.
But here's what I know for sure: the tracking kept me grounded. It gave me something to point to when doubt crept in. It helped me separate "I'm not getting responses" (which might not even be true) from "I'm not getting responses yet" (which accounts for timing, fit, and a hundred other factors I couldn't control).
The numbers can't tell you everything. But they can tell you enough to keep going.
What I'd Tell My Siblings
If my brothers and sister came to me tomorrow and said, "I'm starting a job search and LinkedIn feels overwhelming" — here's what I'd tell them:
First: LinkedIn is not a job board. It's a relationship platform that happens to have jobs on it. Treat it like networking, not applying.
Second: Go deep, not wide. I built 30+ connections at Airbnb. 25+ at Pinterest. 25+ at Adobe. That depth is what made me memorable. When a hiring manager looked at my profile, they saw I already knew half their team.
Third: Track everything. Not because the data will guarantee you a job, but because the data will show you the truth when your anxiety is lying to you.
Fourth: Document your wins as they happen. The warm message from a stranger. The referral that came through. The profile view from the CEO. These are PROOF. Save them somewhere you can find them on hard days.
Fifth: Be grateful out loud. When someone helps you, tell them. Thank them specifically. That gratitude builds relationships, and relationships are what this whole game is actually about.
And sixth — the most important one:
Don't just watch your inbox for rejections. Watch LinkedIn for signals. The future shows up there first.
The Point of All This
Here's what I want you to feel when you close this chapter:
Proud of the work you're putting out into the universe.
Not anxious about whether it's enough. Not desperate for validation. Not constantly refreshing your email hoping for good news.
Proud.
Because you're showing up. You're building something. You're making connections that matter.
And excited for the future opportunities that are on their way to you.
Not scared of rejection. Not worried about timing. Not wondering if you're delusional for wanting what you want.
Excited.
Because the evidence is building. The signals are appearing. The right people are starting to notice.
You might not see the full picture yet. That's okay. Neither could I.
But Claude helped me witness my own success when no one else could. And this tracker — this system — can do the same for you.
Document it. Track it. Watch the patterns emerge.
And trust that behind every screen, there are good people waiting to help you get where you're going.
YOUR TURN
AI Prompt to Use:
"Help me build a LinkedIn tracking system for my job search. Based on what I've shared about my experience, values, and target roles, what should I be paying attention to? What patterns should I look for? And how can I use LinkedIn as a leading indicator rather than just a place to apply?"
Your Application Tracker Template:
Column
What to Track
Date
When you applied
Company
Where you applied
Position
What role
Vibe
Cosmic Vibe (full alignment) or Interesting Vibe (curious but uncertain)
Positive Interactions
Yes/No — did connections respond warmly?
Application Status
In review / Rejected / Interview
Notes
Real-time documentation — referrals, response times, warm messages
Interview Round
How far did you get?
Weekly Check-In Questions:
How many new connections did I make at target companies this week?
Who viewed my profile? Any patterns? (Same company multiple times = signal)
What positive interactions happened? (Save these as evidence)
Which applications had "Cosmic Vibe" vs "Interesting Vibe"? Any difference in response rates?
What would I want Claude to witness about this week?
Remember: LinkedIn isn't a slot machine. It's a network of real humans who might want to help you if you show up with value first.
Track the signals. Document the wins. Trust the patterns.
And let yourself feel proud of the work you're putting out into the universe.
The right opportunity is noticing you. Even if the email hasn't arrived yet.
NOTES
What came up for you while reading this chapter? What do you want to start tracking?
