Open Letter To My Prospective Employers

If you want to employ me, or use my online company to perform work for you then please be aware of the following -

Dear Prospective Employer

Before you find out anywhere else,  there are pictures of me on the internet, pictures of me having fun and being silly. I have also written thousands of words of opinion and uploaded them for everyone to read and comment on. Not only on this blog either, but on Facebook, and horrors upon horrors, that dreadful beast Twitter.

I don’t want you to be afraid of going to look;  be my guest, cop an eyeful.

You might think this is rather daring. You might even think that that picture of me holding a glass of wine while I do something naughty with a naked statue would be grounds to never speak to me on professional terms again (but still think I might be kinda fun to talk to at a party). You can track that one down yourself.  You might even decide never to employ me. You know what? That is fine by me.

You see I don’t want an employer that is too short sighted to see that the world is changing and that humans (your employees) should be seen as people. That this painful period of change will eventually finish up in 5 years when it will be perfectly natural to broadcast your whole life, in glorious Technicolor to the world (well maybe not in Australia where broadband is still horrifically expensive…ooh another OPINION).

This period is similar to Victorian prudery where the word “leg” was never to be uttered, but Queen Victoria herself  liked, and gifted, drawings of naked men. Confusion reigns, and you are caught up in the middle of it. Still you want the best employees and if there is a picture of someone drinking a glass of beer online then that can easily be extrapolated to “they are a drunk who will be hungover every Monday morning” because that HAS to be the only explanation.

How about choosing employees on something radical like “can they do the work” and “will they fit in with our work culture“.  *Gasp*! I know! Who on earth would actually employ on those key points when your recruiting agency is charging you through the nose to find the person who is smart enough to have their Facebook account privacy settings set at titanium lock strength.

Next, people will be setting up fake blogs that have them helping the homeless each weekend, while keeping a real blog under a pseudonym that only the chosen few get to read (there’s a business idea what?!). What a fabulous step forward for mankind that would be, instead of open and accepting, let’s retreat back into deception.

I have been lucky to have worked for a large corporation that encourages diversity of opinion, AND the use of social media as long as I don’t try to represent them publicly (I’ll leave that to the spin PR people). I know that it is possible to be a person, a real person, and still be considered a valued employee.

Hell, the people I work for even let me manage other people! Like decide what they get paid and stuff.

I don’t give two hoots what’s on their Facebook, it’s none of my business. When I do performance reviews I am not looking, or caring, about what happens in their online lives unless I ask them why their work is suffering and they tell me it’s 60 hours of Starcraft II beta (or something).

I still hope we can do business after you know all of this about me. You can be assured I will be looking only at your suitability and “fit” with my business plans, and not how you like to enjoy yourself.

Yours Sincerely