When I start my new business, the one thing I will check for every employee I hire will be their social media, specifically their LinkedIn feed. If it is filled with hate, bigotry, pride, xenophobia, ego, and if I see them peddling false & fake news, dealing in pseudoscience & woo, defending criminals and objectively evil people, practices, or policies, showing a decided lack of attention to detail or even basic common sense when re-sharing news, being openly casteist, racist, ageist, ableist, or misogynistic, it will be a permanent block for them from ever working with me in any capacity. To me, it is like a criminal flaunting their criminal record on LinkedIn and then expecting to be hired.
Having an opinion is fine, even a political or religious opinion, or a scandalous or contrarian one. Sharing it online is fine, even on LinkedIn. Arguing and debating about it are also fine. After all, freedom of speech is a sacrosanct right we have given ourselves in our Constitution. Having an opinion contrary to the crowd, to me, to a celebrity, to a newspaper, to a politician, to a friend is also fine. Discussing and having a to & fro with your network is fine too. But be aware that you can very much do all of this in civilised language and with mutual respect & humanity underlying your conversations. What is not fine is hate and violence, either covert or over, actual or threatened, real or imagined. Hate is never OK. And in my life and business, hate has no place.
To be honest, I am rather surprised at some of the posts and messages on LinkedIn and the openness in which people are advocating violence and spreading hate. I really thought LinkedIn was different, but I guess hate is such a toxin that brings out the bile regardless of whether you are wearing your suit or nightclothes.
I cannot do anything about it. But what I can, and will, do is that I shall refuse to hire such people or work with them. And if you think spreading your personal hatred on a professional platform is OK, then me deciding what kind of a person you are based on what you put out on such a professional platform should also be perfectly fine. What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, eh?
So, for sure your cultural fit, if not your professional or technical one, will have one criterion that has to do with what you post and how you present yourself on LinkedIn. I mean, that is the entire point of this network, right: to present our professional side and show it in a favourable light, even to a point of virtue signalling? If you are a bad person and you are so proud of this dark persona of yours that you literally showcase it on your professional network, can you really blame a potential employer for using it to decide on your employability?
Equally, once I know you are a bad person, I will look at those brands and companies that employ (and employed) you with a certain scepticism that may belie their carefully curated PR image. I will, of course, be charitable and discount some, because not all HR managers can keep track of every employee’s LinkedIn activity, nor are they, or should be, expected to. But it will still bother me how they missed finding out that you are someone full of the poison of hate even after employing you. That, to me, would mean that you fit into their company culture and that indicts the company and the brand in my books. Your actual designation does not matter. In fact, the higher you are in the pecking order, the more concerning it is. And if you are a founder, the less said the better about the enterprise you are building.
You have been warned.
tl;dr: I am 100% using what you say on LinkedIn to judge whether you fit into the culture of my company. And I am also 100% judging the company that you are employed at based on what you say on Linkedin.
