Someone recently told me that LinkedIn
was the new eHarmony and not because they both got hacked by a password
seeking basement dweller, but because well, we are human.
We can’t help it, we are visual people, and we make a lot of judgments based on what we see, blame evolution or lack thereof. It came in handy when Homo habilis was choosing between bachelorette # 2 and bachelorette # 3, instinctively knowing, birthing hips – grunt good, spends too much time at Caves Fifth Avenue – grunt bad. Habi needed strong healthy offspring not overpriced shoes with red bottoms, which quite frankly could be accomplished by walking on a dead saber tooth tiger, so take that Louboutin. Grunt Grunt.
The reality is, we see, we judge, we decide. Pretty girl me like grunt grunt. But a lot goes into ‘me like’. We instinctively look for visual clues to decide if that person fits our needs and wants. Piercings, tattoos, hair length, eyes, clothes, they all give us visual clues that we use immediately after seeing someone to size them up. Should I take her back to my cave or grab my club and beat him to death?
Politically incorrect or not, it’s part of being human, so unless you have a time machine to go back and change Habi’s psyche your stuck with it. But pretending it doesn’t exist is not the solution, don’t be a hypocrite, embrace it and then learn to work with it.
I started off with LinkedIn & eHarmony didn’t I? I should get back to that. Well I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, that picking someone for any purpose whether it’s for mating, cobbling shoes or time travel we try to make the right choice based on credentials but we almost always throw in a likeability factor, after all, we do have to deal with them on a personal level. How’s that for justification? Justice may claim to be blind but then why does beauty always win and ugly dies? It’s true, kill 1 squirrel who is destroying your house and you could get fined, kill 10,000 termites and no one cares. It pays to be cute in this world, don’t ever forget it.
Studies have been done; good looking people are more successful. (Note to self, call plastic surgeon) So should it be a surprise that employers use LinkedIn to not only check out people’s credentials but check out the person too? Hey hiring someone isn’t all that different then a relationship, in fact I can argue it’s more like marriage, only you’ll probably spend more time with your co-worker then your spouse, God Bless the Almighty Dollar! Our priorities really are screwed up.
The employer goes on line searches employee, first thing they look for is, did they post a picture. Now let’s see, lonely guy goes on line, searches single women in area, first thing he looks for is, did they post a picture. Hmmmm. What do they look like, where was the picture taken, why are they taking a picture of themselves in the mirror? Can I see through … nope just a shadow. Notice we still don’t know if they like to take long walks on the beach or if they are detail oriented.
Of course we will get to that, that’s the important stuff right? Maybe, or maybe it’s just the prerequisite. Ever go on an interview at a restaurant? Ever go on a first date to a restaurant? There are a lot of cross over questions. Tell me about yourself? Where are you from? So where do you work, what do you do there? Have you always been in this area? Is that saber tooth tiger blood I smell? The similarities are endless.
We try to evolve and we try not to be shallow and judgmental, we try to be open to everything and everyone, we try not to club strangers with extra appendages. But no matter how much we say it doesn’t matter we still want Jim Lange to show us what the bachelorettes look like before we decide, just like Habi.
We can’t help it, we are visual people, and we make a lot of judgments based on what we see, blame evolution or lack thereof. It came in handy when Homo habilis was choosing between bachelorette # 2 and bachelorette # 3, instinctively knowing, birthing hips – grunt good, spends too much time at Caves Fifth Avenue – grunt bad. Habi needed strong healthy offspring not overpriced shoes with red bottoms, which quite frankly could be accomplished by walking on a dead saber tooth tiger, so take that Louboutin. Grunt Grunt.
The reality is, we see, we judge, we decide. Pretty girl me like grunt grunt. But a lot goes into ‘me like’. We instinctively look for visual clues to decide if that person fits our needs and wants. Piercings, tattoos, hair length, eyes, clothes, they all give us visual clues that we use immediately after seeing someone to size them up. Should I take her back to my cave or grab my club and beat him to death?
Politically incorrect or not, it’s part of being human, so unless you have a time machine to go back and change Habi’s psyche your stuck with it. But pretending it doesn’t exist is not the solution, don’t be a hypocrite, embrace it and then learn to work with it.
I started off with LinkedIn & eHarmony didn’t I? I should get back to that. Well I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, that picking someone for any purpose whether it’s for mating, cobbling shoes or time travel we try to make the right choice based on credentials but we almost always throw in a likeability factor, after all, we do have to deal with them on a personal level. How’s that for justification? Justice may claim to be blind but then why does beauty always win and ugly dies? It’s true, kill 1 squirrel who is destroying your house and you could get fined, kill 10,000 termites and no one cares. It pays to be cute in this world, don’t ever forget it.
Studies have been done; good looking people are more successful. (Note to self, call plastic surgeon) So should it be a surprise that employers use LinkedIn to not only check out people’s credentials but check out the person too? Hey hiring someone isn’t all that different then a relationship, in fact I can argue it’s more like marriage, only you’ll probably spend more time with your co-worker then your spouse, God Bless the Almighty Dollar! Our priorities really are screwed up.
The employer goes on line searches employee, first thing they look for is, did they post a picture. Now let’s see, lonely guy goes on line, searches single women in area, first thing he looks for is, did they post a picture. Hmmmm. What do they look like, where was the picture taken, why are they taking a picture of themselves in the mirror? Can I see through … nope just a shadow. Notice we still don’t know if they like to take long walks on the beach or if they are detail oriented.
Of course we will get to that, that’s the important stuff right? Maybe, or maybe it’s just the prerequisite. Ever go on an interview at a restaurant? Ever go on a first date to a restaurant? There are a lot of cross over questions. Tell me about yourself? Where are you from? So where do you work, what do you do there? Have you always been in this area? Is that saber tooth tiger blood I smell? The similarities are endless.
We try to evolve and we try not to be shallow and judgmental, we try to be open to everything and everyone, we try not to club strangers with extra appendages. But no matter how much we say it doesn’t matter we still want Jim Lange to show us what the bachelorettes look like before we decide, just like Habi.
