You are what you post

Back in the mid-seventies when I was a young man interviewing for a sales manager position at a fax machine company which was brand new technology then. I don’t recall the company name because, after all, that was long ago. But I sure remember that I was mystified as to why I failed to get the job offer. For any driven young person who thinks highly of himself or herself, that not an unusual point-of-view.

Here’s what happened. I had an interview in the morning with a recruiter from the company who was very positive and selected me to meet his Vice President Sales who was going to be in town at the Hyatt Regency Hotel that evening. I arrived at 7:30 pm sharp and ended up spending several hours with them drinking wine, talking about all sorts of stuff and having a grand time. I was a “shoe in” for the job, I thought.

A couple of days later, however, I was rejected for the position and was haunted by their decision for many years thereafter. I knew that something didn’t feel right. Then it came to me at about 3:00 am thirty years later. I didn’t get the sales management position because I was too young. Not chronologically, but in terms of maturity. I wasn’t mature enough to realize that my behavior that night was inappropriate for a sales management candidate.

I still wonder what might have happened if I had the maturity at that time to request a Diet Coke rather than a glass of wine and stayed for a half hour chat with the Vice President, thanked them both for the opportunity to be a candidate for the job, and them bid them a good evening. Would I have received the job offer? Probably would have.

Today’s “maturity check” equivalent to a meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel takes place much earlier in the job candidate evaluation process. It starts with a Google search of the candidate. Job candidates make it much easier for prospective employers these days.

All a prospective employer has to do is go online and look at Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and other websites and see what kind of posts the candidate makes routinely. Is the person thoughtful? Are they considerate and respectful of others? Is the person thoughtful? Do they have commonsense? Did their posts illustrate maturity?

Rightly or wrongly, prospective employers will be impacted by digital content and make hiring decisions based, in part, on posts. Just as they will by a candidate’s grooming, body language, and other factors. Remember the expression “You are what you eat.” Well, today “You are what you post.” Therefore, be careful. It is important think ahead before posting. It could cost you a job, client, or customer and you won’t even know why.