One Lesson You Can Learn From Miss Teen USA's Racist Tweets: A Bit of Career Advice
Patrick Leddin, PhD
Practice Leader | Professional Disruptive Speaker | Led the Vanderbilt Disruption Project | WSJ Bestselling Author | Podcast Host
Before I start, let me provide a brief disclaimer. This post touches on a very controversial topic: racism. Please don't interpret my writing this article as support, condemnation, or an excuse for Miss Teen USA's past and current actions. My intent is to simply use her behavior as a starting point for a conversation about your career.
Eighteen-year-old Texan, Karlie Hay, won the Miss Teen USA title this past Saturday.
The judges recognized her for her, "brains, talent and sweetness...in the annual beauty pageant held within the Venetian in Vegas."
Apparently, the judges didn't realize that Hay also possessed a propensity for using racist language in her social media posts.
Shortly after winning the crown, Hay came under fire for her racist tweets. Here's one such criticism that has been retweeted tens of thousands of times. (You can view the entire conversation here. Caution offensive language.)
"Here is your @MissTeenUSA ( @haaykarrls) spewing racial epithets. Kudos..." - Xavier Burgin
NBC News reports that, "The Miss Universe Organization, which owns the Miss Teen USA pageant, issued a statement Sunday chastising Karlie Hay's words but also supporting her continued growth." The decision to allow Hay to retain the crown was influenced by her posts on the controversy.
Why You Should Care About Miss Teen USA?
Whether you follow the pageant scene or not, there is something we all can learn from this story.
The lesson has:
- Nothing to do with beauty tips.
- Little to do with Hay, her beliefs, or the specific content of her tweets.
If you don't know that racism and racist language are wrong, career limiting, and a sign of much bigger character flaws, this short post isn't going to help you.
- EVERYTHING to do with the existence of the shadow resume.
What's a Shadow Resume?
It consists of the posts, pictures, comments, videos, and other items you leave or other people leave on your behalf all over the internet.
Jobvite, a recruiting software company, surveyed more than 1,000 human resources professionals and found that nearly 75% of them check social media when screening job applicants.
It's a pretty straightforward and common practice.
The potential employer launches a web browser, types in your name, and voilá.
- The image someone tagged you on last weekend appears
- The rant you added as a comment to a newsfeed is back to haunt you
- The video of you karaoking two summers ago resurfaces
Does This Make You Cringe - Just a Little?
The reality is that most companies have more job candidates then open positions and the person screening applications is looking for reasons to reject you.
Don't make it easy work by creating a shadow resume that overshadows your paper one.
The online job site, Monster, offers tips to help job seekers clean-up their online reputations. In a nutshell, here's what Monster, and other similar sites, recommend that you do:
1. Assess the Damage
Go online and search your name. Look at the videos and images that appear. Read the blog posts, articles, and other items that feature you. View each image and text item in detail. If something doesn't put you in the best of light, write down the website so you can come with a game plan to address the issue.
2. Ask for Removal
For the undesirable items that you posted, remove them. If a friend posted an item ask him or her to remove it. If you don't know where it originated from, reach out to the site and ask to remove the content.
Websites like Facebook provide you ways to request removal of items, if you have a legitimate reason.
3. Create Good to Overwhelm the Bad
If you are unable to remove something unflattering, look to create good to overwhelm the bad. This means that you need to create new content that pushes the bad stuff down to the second or third page of search results. Many potential employers won't go beyond the first search results page. So, play the odds and push the undesirable information deeper into the virtual pile by creating postings, uploading photos, tweeting new (and positive ideas), etc.
4. Hire Help
If your online reputation needs more help then you can handle. Hire an expert to help you clean-up the mess. Companies like Reputation.com will give your online presence a facelift and help maintain your image for a fee (starting at $3,000 for a year). It's not cheap, but if you need it, do it.
If the content of your social media presence suggests deeper character flaws - e.g., racism, sexism, or any signs of ignorance and intolerance, I suggest that you get professional help. Deleting a few past comments or images will do little to get to the core of your issues.
Whether you are looking for a job right now or not, we can all benefit from occasionally looking at our shadow resumes. After all, your reputation is everything - go ahead and own it!
I encourage you to take two seconds to think about someone who might benefit from reading this and cleaning up his or her internet reputation - and pass it on!
Best- Patrick
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RE-3 at NYSHCR
8 年There are ways to disagree with someone WITHOUT humiliating them or otherwise being hurtful. Racial put downs are wrong NOT because they might stop you from getting a job, BUT because they are insulting and hurtful.
RE-3 at NYSHCR
8 年There are ways to disagree with someone WITHOUT humiliating them or otherwise being hurtful. Racial put downs are wrong NOT because they might stop you from getting a job, nut because they are insulting.
Sr. Technical Partner Manager | Problem Resolver | Building Lifelong Relationships
8 年Sad to say that the sole person arguing so vehemently for the right to be offensive in that twitter feed has not learned the lesson that while the right to be offensive exists, there is no freedom from consequences. There is no guarantee of the freedom from the consequences of being an offensive jerk online. The rule of a civil society is simple: if you wouldn't want to say it in polite company, it is probably best left unsaid. Better to engage your brain instead and perhaps learn to be a better person.
Founder / CEO / CTO
8 年Whilst I hear what you are saying, and in no-way am I condoning bigotry or anything illegal, I must say that I am uncomfortable with what is becoming a general mantra to groom our personal image to something that doesn’t actually reflect reality. Firstly, everyone is entitled to hold an opinion that differs from the flock. In fact, history has shown that pretty much all societal progress only occurs through people willing to take a stand and disagree with conventional wisdom. The flock is frequently wrong. Secondly, whatever happened to authenticity? People can only be happy in themselves if they are true to themselves. Pretending to be someone you are not, won’t make you happy. Sure, it isn’t wise to post pictures of yourself doing something silly in a public forum for all to see. However, if you have a natural affinity for being silly, then find people that appreciate you as you are, rather becoming a two-dimensional version of yourself to fit-in. In short: I’d prefer to have a slightly controversial public image, and to work with people on an open, honest, authentic basis, than to know my interpersonal relationships were a fragile, fake veneer.