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Disagree, respectfully. As long as you are declaring information about yourself that is true (via photo, summary, links to social media, blogs, etc), then you are talking about yourself as a 'culture', the way companies talk about their 'culture'. If a company likes (or doesn't care) that you have a child in your photo (as in this instance), that is one step closer to a culture match. If they dislike it (legally or not), why even bother interviewing? Lots of companies out there -- and from there perspective, lots of employees. In other words, assuming that what you share is important to you (your children, family status, opinions, blue hair color), and they like or see no conflict with it, steps are being made to form a long-lasting mutually-beneficial relationship. Why go through the stress of pretending you're some clone of the way 'professional' imagery was touted in the 1950s-1980s (suit, shaved face, short hair, child-less, family-less, career accomplishments only) when you are clearly going to have to get to know your colleagues, spend 40+ hours a week with them (or on Zoom, sigh...), only to discover later that you are really the odd one out. If we want to give lip service to 'diversity', it will only get us so far. Granted, every company is different, and every person is different. Putting a pic of one's children on LinkedIn may not be for everyone, but it's a solid move in my opinion. In many of my workplaces, I've had to deal with dogs, hear about endless dog stories, see pictures of dogs on desks, and be 'forced' to pretend that dog memes are 'so cute' on Slack. Overtime, I've learned to just accept it. At first, it seemed weird and out of place at work (to me), but after ten years of it, I've become more tolerant about it. To dog people (you know who you are), their dogs are incredibly important to them. I may not ever want to own a small yapping dog, but I can appreciate more now that to those that do, it's a big part of their life. Near as I can tell, it enhances their life and doesn't detract from the quality and commitment of their work anymore than children do for dads and moms, or ultimate frisbee does for college students. Let it go. He didn't put a picture of himself wearing a Star Wars Resistance Pilot helmet on his head. Let's keep it in perspective. (Although if he had, I'd hire him on the spot). |