Monday, June 19, 2017

Anything You Say Online Can And Will Be Used against You By Employers

About a week ago when I wrote my blog discussing how ex-offenders were getting considered for employment by companies I got a comment from someone who said they were an employer who suggested I delete everything on my blog and my YouTube channel if I hope to get considered for employment. According to them a potential employer can Google someone and if they find something they don’t like, they won’t consider you for a job.


So according to them anything you say online can and will be used against you in an employment search. And according to them, that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been having such a hard time finding a job these last eight years.


When I heard this, I thought about something Christ said after the Pharisees and the Saducees confronted Him with the adulteress.


He who is without sin cast the first stone.


And I say this to employers: Judge and ye shall not be judged. I’m sure if I Googled any of these HR people out here, I’d find a skeleton bone or two in their closets that could cost them their jobs.


Listening to this so-called employer proves my point that narrative seems to be more important to bosses than skills these days. Gang tattoos on someone’s neck, women doing twerk videos and posting topless photos on an Instagram or a Facebook account are fine, but an opinion on a blog or a YouTube video? That’s something that can lead to a manager at a company rejecting a perfectly qualified guy like myself for a job.


 Don’t you just love double standards? And the hypocrisy behind them? It just shows us how full of shit people actually are.


I find it interesting how this so-called employer feels my strong and critical opinions on a blog or a YouTube video disqualify me for employment but people with felony convictions, wearing neck tattoos, posting twerk videos, topless photos on Instagram, posting weed smoking pictures on Facebook and racist rants on a blog, all that’s perfectly fine. The opinions I present on a blog or in a YouTube video would reflect negatively on a company’s image, but hiring someone with a gang tat or a person who promotes drug use at a company that does drug tests, that’s okay. That promotes diversity and tolerance.


Just like Jesus said, straining at a gnat, but swallowing a camel.


 Supporting the difference of opinion would be the true test of tolerance for an employer. And it would show how a diversity of ideas would be considered in a workplace.  Unfortunately, too many employers these days are so thin-skinned that anything someone says offends them. They ask people to have sterling character, but don’t show that through their hiring practices.


This whole quest some employers have to look for a “perfect” person for their jobs is completely insane. According to Christ we were all born in sin and we’re all sinners. So there’s no chance of finding some perfect person out there. Everyone has screwed up at least once in their lives. And it’s wrong to hold that against them. If God can forgive someone, and they can overlook their own past mistakes why can’t that same employer take a chance on a guy like me?


I’ve worked around ex-offenders, former homeless people, and addicts in recovery. And I never once judged them about their pasts or their presents. As long as they did their work I was cool with them. When I go to work, I’m about my job. And as long as the quality of my work is good, an employer shouldn’t have a problem with me. The way I see it, if an employer can accept the guy with the neck tats, the receptionist who made a twerk video she posted on YouTube, or the Administrative assistant who posted topless pictures from her vacation on Instagram and Facebook, then they should have no problem working with the Black man who wrote hundreds of blogs related to or made a series of YouTube Videos where he expressed his opinion on subject matter.


I’m not deleting my blogs. Nor am I deleting my YouTube Channel. The way I figure it what I published is going to be someplace in cyberspace. Many of my so-called offensive blogs like Why Real Men avoid Single Mothers and What Women don’t know about being the Side Piece have been shared all over the world hyperlinked and reposted on numerous websites across the globe. And many of my YouTube videos have been shared and reposted on other sites. So there’s no escaping what I’ve written and recorded. So if someone is going to hire me, they’re going to hire me based on the quality of my work, not the opinions I express.

5 comments:

  1. Ok I believe you're talking about me. And I think I need to tell you how the real world works and finally call you out on the things you're not telling us.

    What kind of jobs are you applying that companies are willing to hire people with gang tattoos or who post unsavory videos online, above a college grad like yourself? You are either in the creative/advertising industry - which you're not - or you're in some kind of after-prison job program.

    If I'm looking for a person to fill a respectable white collar job, I'm not going to pick those whose social media searches reveal bad life choices and ghetto attitude. To be honest, Googling you would retrieve pretty mild results - sure, you have some strong opinions, but otherwise, you're well spoken, have no unsavory background, and seem to be generally employee-material.

    Which then leads me to wonder why you are a) seemingly in situations where unsavory characters are employed before you and b) how you seem to be unemployable.

    There is something you're not telling everyone. In your post about your stint at CUNY, you were never entirely clear WHY you were let go. Sure - you were allegedly caught sleeping. That is in no way an immediate firing offense - you'd have been given a warning letter at best.

    But your post betrayed something - in your entire rant, you went on and on about how everyone was determined to get your ass kicked out. That your colleagues were finding every possible way to get you fired. This doesn't make sense at all - the company, in the long run, loses money if a good employee is simply let go.

    I put it to you that - and I'm sorry to say this - you are a generally difficult character to get along with in the workplace. You take everything as a personal attack and are paranoid to the core. You act as if you're some workplace guru, even as far as going to publish books about, when your years of work experience can be counted on one hand. What does tell me, an employer, about yourself?

    I don't believe in dispensing criticism without constructive feedback. My advice to you is to not be so negative, and think that everyone is out to get you. The reason most people around you, whom you've labeled with names and stereotypes, are continuing to work is that they are SOCIAL ANIMALS. You cannot enter a workspace, constantly on the defense.

    And sorry Shawn - citing your self-publications as experience only matters if it is relevant to the job at hand. You tell me you constantly meet deadlines, but to what measure can I base that on? Nobody besides yourself can vouch for that.

    I have no doubt that you show up well-dressed and professional for an interview. However it is clear to me that the interview itself is where you fail. Do you ramble on and on about your books? Don't do that. Talk about it as a side passion. Do you rant about how employers are racist and shun you? It doesn't make you look good, regardless of how true it may be.

    You might probably delete this post, but I think my professional advice can help you (and perhaps others).

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    1. This guy brings up a good point: what were you doing, or more precisely what were you SUPPOSED to be doing, when other people caught you sleeping on the job?

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  2. If it makes you feel better, I don't your skin color is the problem but rather the fact you're pretty much blowing the whistle on how workplaces really act and behave to their dismay. As for the felony issue, are you grouping all felons together as a generalization or do you feel like a felon is a felon, no matter the kind of crime he or she did?

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  3. I don't think it's your skin color but rather the fact that companies don't like tattletales blabbing away all of the office drama that really goes on behind the scenes.

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    Replies
    1. Not a tattletale when it happened eight years ago. At that point it's a story I'm telling to teach others before they get involved with a dysfunctional company and dysfunctional company culture.

      Delete