Tony Quan’s Post

Today is my 16-year LinkedIn work anniversary. In 1984, I was a freshman in high school, when John Hughes wrote and directed "16 Candles," a coming-of-age movie for myself and so many of my contemporaries. I had a lot of important decisions to make back then --- like how to best match my parachute pants with my Capezio’s, or deciding between what song to put in my CD Walkman - Prince’s “Purple Rain” or Bon Jovi’s “Runaway” ---- tough choices, but choosing a career at that time was not one of them.   For the sake of this post, I’ll skip the years 1984 to 2006, and pick up in 2007.    On this day 16 years ago, August 1, 2007, I made a great decision to start my LinkedIn career, and as I blow out 16 LinkedIn Candles, I can't help but be reminded of the similarities between the two icons: "LinkedIn" and "16 Candles"   1.    We can’t all be as cool as we'd like … but we can all help others become happier and more successful, and that is the epitome of being cool. 2.     Be eternally grateful … regardless of your current situation, there’s a lot to be thankful for, so show up, show out, have fun, and be grateful. 3.     Sometimes birthdays don't always go as planned.  Trust me, I know. I am still on the mend after suffering a massive heart attack, and as much as I would like to be celebrating my 16-year work anniversary alongside my LinkedIn colleagues and friends, I can’t … and that’s ok, because in the immortal words of L. Duck Dong, “I’ve never been so happy in my whole life!” And, oh, by the way, 80’s music is the best.   To all my LinkedIn colleagues, co-workers, customers, and friends, thank you for making my decision to join LinkedIn 16 years ago a great one! #linkedin #grateful #happiness

Catch up = irritation! Not sure if you’re anything like me, but I hate seeing unread notifications on my phone. I’m the same with emails, so this new LinkedIn catch up feature is really annoying. I’m happy for those who have a birthday or are celebrating a work anniversary, but seriously, I don’t need notifying! Is this just me or is anyone else feeling 😡 with it? #linkedin #newfeatures

Today marks a special day for me as I celebrate my 2 year anniversary with LinkedIn, coinciding with LinkedIn's 21st birthday! As someone who has historically moved companies after 2 years, I am proud to say that I am breaking the pattern. It has been an amazing journey with LinkedIn, and I am grateful for the opportunities and experiences I have gained along the way. Here's to many more years of growth and success! #LinkedInAnniversary #CareerGrowth #BreakingPatterns #linkedinlife

20 Years? On LinkedIn? I just got the email, congratulating me about my 20th Anniversary. Evidently I joined a year after LinkedIn started - definitely a LinkedIn OG. Back in 2004, I was working in Technology, and LinkedIn was a great too for keeping track of where your former colleagues were working when you needed someone on a project with a specific skill. Now I find it helpful to passively keep up with people from my past, and connect with new people, learning all along the way. How long have you been in LinkedIn, and what do you use it for?

Learn how to say "thank you" on #LinkedIn... When you're congratulated on your work anniversary. When you're applauded for starting a new position.  When you're congratulated for achieving a new certification. When you're congratulated on starting or completing school. When someone wishes you a happy birthday. It costs just $0 to reply with a "thank you". P.S. Go beyond just reacting to comments when you're congratulated. Want to learn some professional ways to say thank you on LinkedIn? Check out the comments for specific examples! ________ #linkedingrowth #linkedinconnections #linkedincontentwriting

Happy 10 yr anniversary LinkedIn 😍 The year is 2014, I have just returned from travelling, living and working overseas. I was looking down the barrel of 30, had no kids, a great tan (thanks European sun) and created my LinkedIn profile. Fast forward 10 years - 2 jobs - another stint working overseas - found ‘the one’ - a baby - a puppy - starting my role with Randstad Australia - bought our forever home - another baby .. and here we are .. The year is 2024, I have a new job title (Strategic Partnerships Director - Health & Social Care), a new division name (Talent Strategy & Advisory) … and for the first time in 10 years, a new LinkedIn profile picture. I thought about putting the pics side by side and doing ‘then and now’ post .. but the last one was a professional photoshoot with studio lighting and the one below is a screenshot of a teams meeting I was in yesterday with some good natural light from the office window 🤣 📸 Lets just say the years have been kind .. but not that kind 😬 I returned from maternity leave late last year blonde [read: went too grey to maintain dark hair] and my colleagues still double take me in the office .. but it was meeting a new client for a coffee that was looking for a (30yr old) brunette that prompted me to stop professionally ‘catfishing’ everyone and refresh my profile.  *I will work on getting a more suitable profile photo before I turn 50  

What a wild ride so far. I just celebrated my 9 year anniversary here commonsku. I think work anniversary's are funny. Thank yous and praise for staying somewhere. Likely because we are in a job market where people pop from one company to another, climbing the company directories by changing location. But not me, I've always been here. The question I get asked by far the most when I interview people for my department is "why". Again, to me this is funny. I work in a place that allows me to be my sarcastic, honest and sometimes stubborn self. A place that supports me professionally and personally. Where I am trusted in my decisions, opinions and thoughts. I am allowed to make mistakes, celebrate wins and (what I tell everyone in interviews) I don't need to pretend to be someone else between 9 and 5. Maybe I get asked because it is rare to find a place that does this. But that's the reason I should be saying thank you. This isn't meant to be a sappy post or telling you all how awesome my job, my coworkers, my bosses and my customers all are. I don't write my thoughts out often, but I feel like this is owed. A thank you from me to all of those people I just mentioned for allowing me to be here for 9 years, allowing me to be successful, trusting in me and making my work something I legitimately love to do. 9 years is just the start of my journey here. And I'm pumped to see what I can do in the next 9.

Earlier this month I celebrated my 14.5 year anniversary (yes, I celebrate half anniversaries AND half birthdays...drives my kids crazy!). Many will look at this and say, "whoa, over 14 years with the same company...do people still do that?". I've started to ask myself the same question as I see numerous resumes with multiple jobs, linked-in posts encouraging people to job-hop to advance more quickly, and even some co-workers leave in less time than I have to "continue to stay green and growing". So what is the right answer? I guess it is to do what you enjoy and to continue doing that until it is no longer enjoyable. I started in my role in October of 2009 thinking this would be a temporary role (I'll just be here until something better comes along). I suppose I've kept true to that internal voice - it just so happens that I haven't found something better yet! Being able to help veterans everyday is a true joy (and with some a challange, a frustration, and others a huge burden to carry). As I continue to move toward 15+ years please let me know if I can help you along your journey and if your journey has a few pit stops that detour you from racking up longer years with one company know that if you are happy and if you enjoy what you're doing, don't worry about what others think.

First off thank you to everyone who sent me a work anniversary congratulatory message. It’s appreciated. When I first joined LinkedIn, I used to get daily reminders about people’s new jobs, work anniversaries and birthdays. I replied to them all in a semi automated fashion. I used to get dozens of work anniversary and birthday messages. Today I got 7. It was nice to get those, but I do wonder if there is a be a point to them anymore. Do you like those messages? #sales #keynotespeaker #storytelling