To Get Ahead At Work, Act Like A Politician – Study
By Susan Adam, for Forbes
You may, in the spirit of the times, think that politicians are the most untrustworthy and undependable people on the planet. But a new study says you should behave just like them if you want to get a job. That’s because what employers look for in applicants is almost exactly what voters look for in candidates for office, according to new research by an assistant professor and two graduate students at the University of Texas at Austin.
In the paper, published in a periodical called New Media & Society, they interviewed 59 hiring managers between the ages of 20 and 65 who work for large and small companies and for nonprofits in a variety of industries including higher education, consulting, accounting and sports. The goal of the study was to probe how the hiring managers evaluated candidates’ online profiles.
First the researchers asked participants to consider data they might get online that would make them more or less likely to interview someone. On average, the hiring managers responded to each scenario in just one minute. That may seem like an awfully short time to form an opinion but 2012 research by job search website TheLadders has shown that hiring managers spend on average 6.25 seconds looking at a candidate’s résumé before deciding whether he or she is a fit for a job.
What the researchers found: hiring managers look through “a new career lens: the worker as politician.” No participants used the word “politician” per se but, says the paper, “employers consistently applied cue and heuristics from electoral politics to evaluate candidates’ careers.” That means employers, perhaps unintentionally, are “vot[ing]” job candidates into employment.
The researchers broke down hiring managers’ political criteria into five points.
1. An electable personality. Employers want to see LinkedIn LNKD -0.68% and Facebook posts, pictures and other information demonstrating a personality that is creative, curious, friendly and stable, that shows that the person is able to take charge of a situation. Though this could run afoul of EEOC guidelines that bar employers from asking applicants for photographs and discriminating on the basis of race, sex, national origin, age or religion, the hiring managers said they rely on physical appearance and photos to help them decide whether to interview a candidate. They want to see the candidate wearing a professional outfit and they don’t like to see tattoos and piercings and/or shots of people naked, wearing skimpy clothing or drinking and smoking.
2. A cleaned-up public image. Hiring managers want to see “a consistent, professional presentation, that cuts across social media, showing the applicant has taken the time to think about his/her online presence without being perceived as disingenuous,” says the paper. That means candidates should edit the information they put online. At the same time, employers don’t want to see glaring holes, like a gap in employment or negative information like a posting criticizing the candidate. If candidates “looked normal,” they were more likely to be interviewed, says the paper. Unsurprisingly, candidates would be disqualified for “foul language,” “trashy photos,” or “racist remarks.” Employers also want candidates’ online image to match their personalities offline and they don’t want to see people trying to hide or evade a negative experience, like a failed project. “If a candidate was upfront about any issues, I would not have any issue,” said one hiring manager. “The deception is what I would find hard to overcome.”
3. Appropriate endorsements. Like politicians, job applicants need to have the right people advocating for them. Many of us are lazy about getting LinkedIn endorsements from influential people. That’s a mistake, say the researchers. Employers also care about who your LinkedIn connections and Facebook friends are. The more high-status and influential, the better. Being connected to the wrong people can do damage. Says the paper, “connectivity with inappropriate networks doomed job candidates, much as negative connections or endorsements can derail political campaigns.”
4. Acceptable hobbies. Hiring managers prefer candidates to demonstrate that they spend their time away from work on pursuits that show seriousness, sophistication and maturity, like cooking or wine tasting. As one hiring manager put it to the researchers, “if their interests include beer pong or if someone is clearly obsessed with cats and writing on the Facebook wall for Purina Cat Chow. . . that’s a problem.”
5. Mainstream values. Just as voters want politicians to be family-focused and wholesome, employers want candidates to demonstrate mainstream values in their online postings. Religion is OK but employers don’t want to see zealotry. The way some voters were uncomfortable with Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith, employers prefer a kind of milquetoast version of religious observance. “Online information should convey a pious, almost puritanical image, evidencing professionalism and responsibility,” says the paper. “ Employers expected definitive public/private boundaries, viewing employees as extensions of company brands, a perspective similar to popular expectations that elected officials are a reflection of their public office.”
To me the takeaway from this new research is that we all need to manage our online personas carefully, which most of us already realize. But I don’t think we need to turn ourselves into full-time job applicant zombies. A year ago I reported on a survey from Bullhorn Reach, a company that makes technology products for employers and recruiters, underlining that LinkedIn still dominates as the social networking site where recruiters and hiring managers look for candidates. Of the jobs posted on such sites, 77% were on LinkedIn, 54% were on Twitter TWTR +4.53%, and only 25% were on Facebook.
Here is what I suggest, not just to job seekers but to all of us (even if you love your job, you should make yourself available to employers who might want to recruit you for a post that’s even more desirable): Keep your LinkedIn profile professional and up-to-date. Whenever you can, connect with people who are higher up than you are in the career food chain. Get recommendations from bosses who appreciate you and endorsements from as many people as you can. Use your Twitter feed to express ideas that are relevant to your professional life.
The study’s authors may disagree with me but I think you can relax a little on Facebook, especially if you lock down your privacy settings so that only your friends can see your postings about your favorite cat breeds. This is anecdotal but I’ve interviewed at least a half dozen hiring managers who say they use LinkedIn as their only social media recruiting tool. They know that relevant professional information will be posted there and they simply don’t have time to go digging through Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.
But I think the researchers have a point about how applicants should proceed in the wide world of social media. Online, you’re best advised to act like a politician. Craft your policy positions carefully, cast your views in the mainstream, make the most influential connections you can and most importantly, mold your image to fit an employer’s—or a voter’s—ideal.
