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Browser Choice May Affect Your Job Prospects

Posted by Soulskill on from the good-god,-this-applicant-is-using-Lynx dept.

krygny sends this quote from The Economist: "The internet browser you are using to read this blog post could help a potential employer decide whether or not you would do well at a job. How might your choice of browser affect your job prospects? When choosing among job applicants, employers may be swayed by a range of factors, knowingly and unknowingly. ... Evolv, a company that monitors recruitment and workplace data, has suggested that there are better ways to identify the right candidate for job. ... Among other things, its analysis found that those applicants who have bothered to install new web browsers on their computers (such as Mozilla's Firefox or Google's Chrome) perform better and stay in their posts for 15% longer, on average."

6 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. Correlation is not causation by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Specifically, both being able to install a browser and staying in your job longer could easily be caused by a third factor, namely not being an idiot.

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    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    1. Re:Correlation is not causation by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Ah, but in this case, correlation is what the employer cares about.

  2. Honest salesmen less effective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the article "A study of 20,000 workers showed that more honest people tend to perform better and stay at the job longer. For some reason, however, they make less effective salespeople."

    Anybody surprised by this?

  3. Re:Loaded language? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He won't... that's the point.

    This is just another arbitrary way to "weed out" candidates. You wonder why the screeching that "the U.S. has no qualified candidates" to do jobs... this is one of the reasons. We have H.R. people that roundfile applications because of their own lack of knowledge.

  4. Re:Loaded language? by boristdog · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I take it you haven't dealt much with the type of people most companies hire for the Personnel department.

    From the 3 gov't agencies, two non-profits and half-dozen private companies I've worked for as evidence, it seems that looking good in a tight dress is the major qualification.

  5. Re:Loaded language? by tehcyder · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sometimes it is rather arbitrary, such as: lives too far away, or uses an unprofessional sounding email address (for example: hotkitty@aol.com)

    Is it the hotkitty or the aol part you find most unprofessional?

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    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it