A 24-year-old woman who was applying for a job found the employer shared photos from her personal social media account and branded her unprofessional.
After gaining experience in social media and sales, Emily Clow, from Austin, Texas, applied for a marketing position at a company named Kickass Masterminds which helps entrepreneurs grow their business.
At first, the company appeared interested in Emily’s application and they asked her to fill out additional application materials.
Soon after she’d fulfilled their request, however, the hopeful woman found the company had shared an image of her in a bikini to their Instagram story, presenting it as an example to other applicants of ‘what not to do’.
Kickass Masterminds shared the photo from Emily’s personal Instagram account and wrote:
PSA (because I know some of you applicants are looking at this): do not share your social media with a potential employer if this is the kind of content on it. I am looking for a professional marketer, not a bikini model.
Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private. But this is not doing you any favors in finding a professional job.
The horrified applicant shared the image on Twitter, where she said she was ‘baffled’ by what the company had done.
She wrote:
i was objectified earlier today by a company because of a picture of me in a bikini. they claimed it made me an ‘unprofessional.’ they screenshot the photo, posted it on their insta story and called me out.
i am still baffled that the company handled it in such a manner.
Emily tagged the company in her tweet and went on to point out that they didn’t always come across as professional themselves. Kickass Masterminds use swear words on their LinkedIn page and describe themselves as matching and managing those who ‘yearn for freedom and are ballsy enough to chase after it’.
After the company shared the post, Buzzfeed News report Emily received a message from Kickass Masterminds, saying ‘remember that everything you put on social media is public and future potential employers will see it’, adding ‘best of luck in your future job search!’
She responded:
I am aware of that, as I worked in social media for two years. I didn’t realise wearing a bathing suit and appreciating my body made me unprofessional. MOST employers and companies, especially those who work with marketing, have that understanding.
I am disappointed to see a company I was very interested in decided to go out of their way to shame an applicant.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News, Emily explained she asked the company to take their Instagram story down three times; once via email and twice through Instagram messages. After her third try, the company blocked her.
Recalling how she felt upon seeing the post, the 24-year-old said:
[The company] basically said, ‘Hey, you can’t post anything outside of work of you wearing a bikini,’ which most girls wear at pools. Like, I don’t think anyone wears sweatpants to the pool or anything.
I really didn’t think that an employer that obviously showed interest in me … would use me as an example of what not to do when applying for jobs and call me unprofessional.
After Emily shared her story on Twitter, Kickass Masterminds changed their Instagram account to private while its website, Twitter and Facebook pages appear to have been taken down.
The 24-year-old said she decided to share the post in order to shed light on the issue, explaining:
I thought this was a situation that I feel like a lot of women deal with on a daily basis when they’re they’re job hunting.
I figured that, ‘Hey, I might as well talk about this,’ because if I talk about it I know someone else is going through this and we can start a conversation and see if there’s a way to fix the issue.
Kickass Masterminds do not appear to have publicly responded to Emily’s post at the time of writing (October 5).
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.