My phone number is poisoned

Oh, my phone number. It's been with me through half a dozen phone companies, countless devices, and many different life stages. I've had this exact same number for the past 20 odd years which means it's utterly intertwined with my life. All kinds of services are linked to it, the government has it, my bank has it, and of course, so do all my friends and family.

You know who else has my number? Recruiters. Recruiters have my number, and they keep calling me all the time. Despite me never answering their calls, they keep trying.

A while ago I asked a recruiter how they got my number and the answer they gave me was "oh, I don't know, it was on LinkedIn I think". But my number isn't on LinkedIn. It's not on my profile, never was.

I think we all know where they got my number from. It's been sold, and sold again, and then the dataset was leaked, and now it's out there. It's everywhere. My phone number is poisoned.

Now, when someone's calling me, and their number is not in my contacts, I don't answer. I just let it ring, or I'll push them into voicemail. If it's important, they'll leave a message, right? But they hardly ever leave a message. They just call, and then maybe send a message on LinkedIn.

I don't have anything against recruiters, I really don't. They have a job to do, and I think they're serving a very useful purpose. If I were looking for a new job, I'd be delighted to use their services. I'm just calling them out because they're 90% of the calls I get these days. They might have something really important to share, some amazing opportunity just waiting for me. But I won't know about it.

What about email? You can send me an email with all the information you have, and I'll get back to you if I'm interested. I can read it on my own time, which is a lot better than the disruptiveness of a phone call.

Please give me my phone number back. I want to be able to trust it again. I want to be able to answer calls from people and not have to worry about some clingy recruiter totally walking over me.

Email is great. Please and thank you.