My company is looking to hire a relatively junior employee and has advertised online. Managers reporting to me tell me they rejected one promising candidate because an internet search revealed her online profile, which describes her favourite position as “on top with my bondage gear and whip”. They say this shows she is not suitable for us. Even if it was a tongue-in-cheek comment it might be hard to take such a member of staff seriously. But I am concerned that we might be missing someone good. Should I reverse the decision and interview the candidate anyway? And were we right to use the information at all?
Managing director, male, 53
Lucy’s answer
Why do your managers think this woman is not “suitable”? Is it because they have found a negative correlation between people who like a bit of leather in the bedroom and people who are good at filing, or at whatever it is you want this employee to do?
Or is the problem that they fear someone who has so little judgment that she writes about whips on the internet cannot be trusted in your company? This is a little more plausible, although it is still pretty feeble as half the population under 30 writes things about themselves online that they would not dream of putting in a CV.
You ask if your managers should have been looking at this stuff in the first place. As it is publicly available there is nothing morally or legally wrong with their conducting such “research”, although it does not seem a good use of their time. Such jokey bragging about sex is meant to amuse friends, not to impress employers; eavesdropping on this conversation tells you nothing. Five minutes spent interviewing this woman will establish much more quickly whether she will be suitable for your company than peeping through the wonky keyhole of the internet.
Still, I don’t think you should go to war over her. To interfere over the hiring of a minor colleague may alienate your co-workers. With unemployment rising there must be any number of other good candidates. But neither would I let it go altogether.
I assume the only reason you heard about this was because they were gossiping about it. At that point you should have said loftily that the information about her sex life did not strike you as relevant. You might have added you were in favour of any employee who had a preference for being on top, as this was your own preferred position too
