Woman Goes Viral for Putting ‘Desperate’ Banner on Her LinkedIn Profile: 'I Was Truly at a Loss' (Exclusive)

Courtney Summer Myers, a graphic designer and illustrator, has been looking for work since losing her job in November 2023

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

A LinkedIn user has gone viral after she recently paired a "#Desperate" banner with her profile image on the social networking website.

Courtney Myers, a graphic designer and illustrator based in England, tells PEOPLE she was laid off from work in November 2023 and hasn't been able to find a permanent position in the time since, despite various search efforts.

"There were not many opportunities, and I applied to everything I could find," she says. "Exasperated with the lengthy application and interview processes, as well as hearing back from only around 10% of jobs I'd applied to, I was truly at a loss."

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Searching through LinkedIn, Myers explains, "It seemed like a lot of people were also going through the same thing, specifically in the creative industries. Supertalented people were going months or years without finding work, and getting a job just seemed like an impossible task."

Weighing her options, Myers decided to "do something unthinkable in today's market — be honest" which led her to create her "#Desperate" banner to accompany her profile image.

"LinkedIn is a platform designed for jobseekers, but you're not supposed to let on that you need a job? How backwards is that?" she says. "A lot of people are desperate right now, for reasons entirely out of their control. As one of those people, I decided to take control of my own narrative."

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Her decision to craft her "#Desperate" banner, Myers says, "cut through the vapid noise on LinkedIn and resonated with a lot of people."

And though she admits that the response is "a troubling reflection of where we're at right now," Myers says it "was also incredibly heartwarming that I was able to make others feel less alone and less ashamed to share their own stories."

"I'd say 95% of the feedback was from people in similar positions or those who empathized and had at some point also felt let down by the current state of hiring," she adds. "... Of course, there was also the 5% of people who were negative, but in nearly all cases they either hadn't actually read my post or just hadn't grasped the tongue-in-cheek exasperated nature of it."

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Since she has gone viral for her profile picture, Myers tells PEOPLE that her inbox "exploded overnight."

"It was really hard to get through everything in order to find the opportunities, but I did my best," she explains. "I had a lot of offers for freelance work — a couple of cool projects which I have taken on, which was great — but not what I was looking for really. ... I need a full-time, permanent role."

Overall, Myers says her experience "has taught me that authenticity and vulnerability are invaluable tools for connecting with people, professionally and personally."

"Being unapologetically yourself doesn't have to make you any less hireable or likeable, it allows you to find your tribe," she adds. "And why would anyone want to be somewhere they don't feel comfortable being themselves?"

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