A few years ago, you could expect a prospective employer to glance at your Facebook or Linked In, and maybe to Google your name. Today, much more in-depth vetting of your social media and online presence is no longer the exception, it's the rule.
We're not talking about C-level executives here, we're talking about every wage-slave applicant who comes across the desks of the Human Resources Department. A fittingly named department, given its goal is to dehumanize the average person until they are an easily quantifiable resource not unlike lumber, coal, oil or copper.
In a recent survey by consulting firm Challenger Gray, only 14% of employers said (claimed?) they did not check social media profiles during the hiring process. This would appear to conflict with the fact that 96% of survey respondents check LinkedIn before contacting a candidate. Either way, you are probably being checked out, and in at least 75% of cases, that happens well before you they even contact you.
Now, perhaps you may think you don't post anything controversial. However, reality is increasingly being treated as open to the interpretation of people's feelings in the West. For example, hypothetically (emphasis on the word: "hypothetically"), perhaps you have stated publicly that you are anti-Sharia law. Oops. There are "progressives" who will call you a racist for that, because apparently Islam is a race these days. Here's the third google result for "anti-Islam racist":
In other words, and to be absolutely clear, "I have nothing to hide so what do I care" remains a terrible response to this sort of activity because words can be redefined at anytime to vilify anyone or anything. Rest assured if someone wants you to have something to hide, they'll find some way to distort reality to make it happen, if necessary. When the culture accepts feelings as arguments, this can be much easier than you think.
Even if you choose to completely abstain from social media, you will be actively hurt by this trend of "surveillance". A full 43% of employers said it "hurt" your chances to have no social media presence. Anyone who knows the current ratio of accepted-to-rejected resumes at most HR departments realizes "hurt" is just a nice way of saying "totally kills". Another additional 45% of employers claimed it "made no difference", which would seem to be demonstrably false given the percentages of these same employers who are checking these social media profiles.
It would be a lot harder to all all of this alarmism before #CNNBlackmail happened, but with major media networks threatening to dox users for making a meme on Reddit, anything is truly possible. Bastions of reason have to protect themselves from the tyranny of the unreasonable - and let's be clear, what they are looking for, is truly unreasonable.
Apparently, just a few of the more objectionable activities you may be skipped over for include: Not posting job stuff on your Facebook, posting job stuff on your Facebook (bit of a Catch-22 there), legally using alcohol or tobacco, making a spelling or grammatical mistake, "controversial associations", bad language, being involved in a lawsuit or having another job, side project, or passion of any kind. In other words, any indication you might be a functional human being with a brain, opinions or personal life and not a corporate drone with "Input work" and "Output profit" ports.
Be careful what you post, folks, especially here on Steemit where everything is perpetually burned into the blockchain. Reread that comment or post just one extra time to make sure you will be able to stand by it proudly 5 years into the future. Stick to the facts and always strive for the moral high ground. That is how you win the silent majority.
Read more here: https://steemit.com/news/@lexiconical/cnnblackmail-cnn-threatens-to-dox-reddit-trump-wwf-meme-creator-we-have-entered-the-media-twilight-zone
Sources: Challenger Gray, via ZH(link)
Images via ZH(link)
Copyright: Office Space, 30 Rock