Day 111 - Snipers Aren't All Trained by the Government

America loves snipers. We love to see them on TV, hear about their mysterious exploits and how they save the day with one trigger pull.* If we can't have superheroes, then maybe we can have lone gunmen that (long-range) swagger into combat and save the day. 

To clarify, I'm talking about the government-certified ones - the ones that wear camouflage and (according to stereotype) are often quiet and very intense. 

But there lurks in our world the untrained, uncertified snipers as well. You may or may not know them, but they definitely know you. And they have the biggest, untempered mouths you have ever encountered. They could be colleagues, former employees, contacts, competitors - anyone.

Reputation slaughter is usually reserved for word of mouth or back alley slander. But a new website, Unvarnished, is taking this talk online, offering anyone the chance to review anyone - without vetting or accountability. It's online sniping, pure and simple. 

Imagine this: You finally get that interview for a dream position at a dream company that offers a dreamy salary. You ace it. The interviewer nearly asks you to marry him/her and have his/her workforce babies (e.g. create reports, projects, etc.) Blushing abounds! It closes with a reminder that there are a few due diligence points HR has to hopscotch through, but that should be no problem. You'll hear from them in a week.

Two weeks later: Crickets.

Three weeks later: You discover a very public bad review from a former employee that rampages on a bad business decision you made and its results for the company and direct reports. Is this a contributing factor to the Fort Knox-like wall of resistance you've encountered from your dreamy job crush? The review neglected to mention that there were contributing factors to that experience** - potentially senior leadership neglect or cut backs that forced hard decisions. Or maybe the former employee (let's name her Molly Jo because you'd probably be able to ID the culprit from his/her comments) was an underperformer that was let go or just plain vindictive? The point is two-fold: 1. There's no context to these comments and 2. Everyone likes to bitch.***

Now let's flip it: Say you did do an extremely horrible job and Molly Jo's public complaint is warranted. Does that mean you'll be haunted forever by a bad business decision from 10 years ago? Or 2 years ago? Don't you have the right to take the blame and explain?  

In the ideal world****, companies wouldn't let one or two bad reviews halt the hiring process (After all, do you get glowing reviews when you Google, say, BP?). They'd give the applicant an opportunity to discuss the content. Maybe they'd even dismiss the comments if they are attributed to anonymous sources or are blatantly baseless (as in you didn't even work at that company.)  (Heck, in an ideal world, all the reviews would be positive and you wouldn't even have to worry about this.)

But let's be honest: Even though the job market is opening up, there are still more baby birds than mama birds. It doesn't take much to derail your candidacy.*****  

******



* And before you can on your opinion horse and press the spurs to the belly, try to keep these statements in context. I'm talking from an entertainment perspective, not a "Gee, it's supergollywolly great to kill folks!Your turn, Timmy!"
** It's about context here, not side-stepping blame. I'm all about accountability.
*** Think about it - how many times have you taken to the net in anger as opposed to beneficence? Remember: Your Yelp entries don't lie.
**** I like this ideal world quite a bit and sincerely hope that it abuts our land every once in a while.
***** And I haven't even dug into the deliberate sabotage side. A rival person wants that dream job? A competitor wants to cause some corporate disruption? Egads. 
****** I also get that the website offers a certain amount of social democracy - an unfettered, 360 degree view of a professional. And this is all good and well as long as people remember to use this site for good, not evil (or at least unsubstantiated evil.) Unvarnished also allows you to buy your own account, therefore owning every review of you. However, you still cannot control the content.