Can you talk about having such a public profile and career on social media while also remaining employable and professional in your legal/academic career? I am interested in starting a YouTube channel but I'm worried about having to censor my content to seem more professional and not being able to talk freely about things I'm passionate about like mental health, sex positivity, etc.
- Anonymous
It can be hard to gauge where the line is between free expression and employability. When I was operating under the Scarcity narrative, I absolutely would have deleted all social media accounts if a partner had told me to. Particularly in traditionally conservative environments like biglaw, the hiring committee can be really sensitive to potential risks and liabilities. As between two similar candidates, the one without a platform would appear to carry less risk for the firm. (Whether that is actually true is up for debate.) I was only able to confidently pursue creating content due to (a) already being a midlevel associate with great reviews, (b) having close relationships with powerful sponsors at the Firm who trusted my judgment when it came to public posts, and (c) erring on the side of caution when it came to potentially controversial topics.
This isn’t to say that you need to wait until you’re well-established in your career to create content, though—in fact, workplace attitudes towards employees having public profiles are changing, although there are still significant growing pains as traditional institutions try to figure out this new frontier. The important part is being mindful about what topics you address and the statements you make in your video. Discussions about mental health are currently embraced by the powers-that-be, but only up to a certain point. Sex positivity is empowering in theory but can still practically lead to backlash. There are potential consequences for speaking out in a world that wants to silence—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, as long as you stand by what you say and are emotionally and mentally prepared for potential pushback from others.
The upside of having a social media account, though, is that it can help filter out employers and environments who wouldn’t be good fits for you, anyway. Ask yourself: would you really want to work for a company that finds your mental health videos objectionable, when there are other companies that would instead find them empowering? Posting on social media can certainly limit your options when it comes to jobs and employers, but that limitation can be a good thing, a curation.
A public profile can also expand your career opportunities for self-employment and freelancing, which shouldn’t be discounted. The creator @jasminericegirl has always exemplified this for me—is she tweeting about sex constantly? Yes. Would some companies reject her outright because of those tweets? Absolutely. But is she making waves in society, forging her own career path, and, from what I can see, getting that bag? One hundred percent. The key is to intentionally pick the tradeoff you’re willing to make as between talking about what you’re passionate about and being perceived as standardly “professional”—and as long as whatever balance you pick is yours, intentionally yours, you won’t have any regrets.
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