It has happened many times over the last couple years: a friend or colleague who has previously been totally inactive on LinkedIn suddenly starts connecting and posting and generally making up for lost time. Many times this indicates a change of employment is imminent or has recently passed.
I’ve not read of this phenomenon elsewhere, though I won’t be surprised if someone else has already identified it. Until prior art is revealed, I’ll call it Lundberg’s Law of LinkedIn Laziness, or simply Lundberg’s Law. (That name does not appear to be already taken.) With Luck it might enter the vernacular.
A sudden increase in networking activity on LinkedIn foretells an imminent job change.
In other words, Lundberg’s Law states that a step function in the intensity of professional networking activity indicates an unplanned career move is afoot.
Math whizzes in the audience might prefer “the second integral with respect to time of one’s professional network is proportional to the unexpectedness of a sudden career change.”
What it means is this: don’t lazily ignore your network and wait until you need it to feed it. Connecting with colleagues, coworkers and acquaintances should be part of your daily routine. Chat up old colleagues, reconnect with past associates, check in occasionally with industry groups. Stay active. Stay visible. Stay relevant.
If you are continually active, you’ll have a much healthier network at at time when that will be important to you, and you’ll avoid implicitly advertising that you’ve had a sudden career change thrust upon you.
If you ignore your professional network, it won’t serve you well when you most need it.