This Is What It's Like Competing For A Social Media Dream Job

On learning the hard way that social media is just a public pissing contest where skill means nothing compared to popularity.

Each of us has different ideas of what our ultimate dream job would be. If the opportunity ever arose to compete for it, we’d pounce without thinking twice, right?

In professional industries, it’s typical for the most skilled, most tenured candidate to be considered for the position. That’s pure logic.

A surgeon, for example, wouldn’t land a job based solely on how many ‘likes’ he’s got on Facebook. He’d be assessed on his education, scalpel skills, and ability to save lives. If you were a patient, you’d hope to hell this is true.

But in the social media world?

Logic takes a flying leap out the window. Skill and experience are replaced with popularity pretty much every single time.

I once participated in a country-wide competition for my absolute dream job. The opportunity would be life-changing for whoever landed it, but as I found out on the tail end of the race, it reeked of popularity bias.

The candidate who landed the position didn’t know the difference between there, their, and they’re. But damn, she looked good in a bikini.

It was like swallowing a pill the size of a burrito and then choking on it.

Was I bitter? Yup. I hate sounding like a crusty cow but I can’t lie, it stung like lemon juice in a paper cut with a dash of salt on top for good measure. However, as

JULIA HUBBEL

would probably say…I’m too old to cling to events that no longer serve me.

The Dream Job

In 2014, during the peak years of my travel writing career, the island of Tobago launched a competition seeking a writer/adventurer to represent the destination.

The compensation for this gig would be $30,000 CAD plus all expenses paid for a 60-day social media and blogging campaign. Go ahead and asphyxiate yourself on that kind of math for two months’ worth of work vacationing. 😲

Mind blown.