Job-seekers Followers vs The Resume

The internet is the determining factor in who gets hired in corporate Canada and U.S. I thought about saying it is one of the factors, then I remembered Bud Light beer and Dylan Mulvaney.

He is a man that wears make-up, wigs and women’s clothes. He calls himself a trans gender woman. Anheuser-Busch, that owns the brewery used her in the infamous Bud Light ad because she has a large online following.

Qualifications are important yes, but potential employers like the idea of a million plus followers. New employees with such numbers will give them free advertising because they will talk about work on Instagram and YouTube and even boast about one of the perks, an electric car manufactured by you know who? Their new boss.

Which brings us to resumes. They are pieces of paper where you sell yourself. It has four or five main sections. References are usually the last section where you provide names of people who can vouch for you, that you know the industry, you are a hard worker and generally a nice guy.

Are referees redundant now? Yes. The number of followers is the reason your name is on the short list. Employers want to interview you to see how you can use your fans to their advantage. They don’t care about the three people listed under references. They could be TIFF’s Cameron Bailey, Hilary Clinton and Masai Ujiri, but they are not as important as followers.

Personally, I’m glad referees play second fiddle now because few job-seekers know people of that caliber. In some cases, powerful men and women casually say, ‘You can put down my name as a referee.’ The job is yours because your parents move in the same circles as him. The emphasis on followers has made such social and class connections redundant.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.