This is based on my experience. Everybody might not agree or subscribe to it. I thank LinkedIn for their immediate action.
What started as a normal day, ended as a nightmare. I had heard of being asked to make ‘compromises’ to get that promotion or the prize assignment. But I had never in my wildest dreams thought I will be a victim of ‘casting couch’.
LinkedIn, to the best of my knowledge, was a professional platform for people to connect on a professional level and work towards finding synergies for a better work ambiance. That’s the only social media network where I have connections that are not known to me. I had connected or accepted invitations because their designations and companies looked decent.
Manikandan Editor was one such name. He connected and then sent InMail asking me if I was interested in acting in an ad film. I was quite intrigued that someone could see me as a prospective model. He said he worked for a company called Maestro Advertising, Chennai. He went on to give me names of a few clients and said it’s for a jeweler. The client list was quite impressive and had a few big names.
Things were good till this point. He later shifted the discussion to WhatsApp chat. And that’s when the things got creepy. “I want to be close to you on chat before we work together…” To which I replied that we are not friends and he should send me details about the shoot to email id. He said his staff would do that and he would pay me 75,000 per day for a three day shoot.
What followed stumped me. “You will sleep with me after the confirmation” Yes…he said that in those many words. And I was aghast! I didn’t know what hit me. “I don’t want to work with you” I said. The conversation ended! There was no reaction from the man and he stopped communicating, thankfully.
It was too late for any action or complaint. I called LinkedIn Corp Comm head first thing next day morning. She was quite shocked to know my experience. “34 million members in India are on LinkedIn because they want to connect to professional opportunities and become better at their jobs. The behaviour you reported to me is not common, effective or appropriate on LinkedIn. Our User Agreement states clearly that our members should act in a professional manner,” said Deepa Sapatnekar, Head Corporate Communications, LinkedIn.
Deepa escalated the matter to the security and safety team. They took an immediate action and deleted the man’s profile.
By that time, I had deleted my contact details from my profile. One experience was good enough for a lifetime lesson.
I was thinking…. if they have taken down his profile, they must have found something else that was objectionable…..
My experience has taught me the following and I would be happy to share that with other female members.
I think they should find these tips helpful as well.
What started as a normal day, ended as a nightmare. I had heard of being asked to make ‘compromises’ to get that promotion or the prize assignment. But I had never in my wildest dreams thought I will be a victim of ‘casting couch’.
LinkedIn, to the best of my knowledge, was a professional platform for people to connect on a professional level and work towards finding synergies for a better work ambiance. That’s the only social media network where I have connections that are not known to me. I had connected or accepted invitations because their designations and companies looked decent.
Manikandan Editor was one such name. He connected and then sent InMail asking me if I was interested in acting in an ad film. I was quite intrigued that someone could see me as a prospective model. He said he worked for a company called Maestro Advertising, Chennai. He went on to give me names of a few clients and said it’s for a jeweler. The client list was quite impressive and had a few big names.
Things were good till this point. He later shifted the discussion to WhatsApp chat. And that’s when the things got creepy. “I want to be close to you on chat before we work together…” To which I replied that we are not friends and he should send me details about the shoot to email id. He said his staff would do that and he would pay me 75,000 per day for a three day shoot.
What followed stumped me. “You will sleep with me after the confirmation” Yes…he said that in those many words. And I was aghast! I didn’t know what hit me. “I don’t want to work with you” I said. The conversation ended! There was no reaction from the man and he stopped communicating, thankfully.
It was too late for any action or complaint. I called LinkedIn Corp Comm head first thing next day morning. She was quite shocked to know my experience. “34 million members in India are on LinkedIn because they want to connect to professional opportunities and become better at their jobs. The behaviour you reported to me is not common, effective or appropriate on LinkedIn. Our User Agreement states clearly that our members should act in a professional manner,” said Deepa Sapatnekar, Head Corporate Communications, LinkedIn.
Deepa escalated the matter to the security and safety team. They took an immediate action and deleted the man’s profile.
By that time, I had deleted my contact details from my profile. One experience was good enough for a lifetime lesson.
I was thinking…. if they have taken down his profile, they must have found something else that was objectionable…..
My experience has taught me the following and I would be happy to share that with other female members.
I think they should find these tips helpful as well.
- Just because it’s a professional site, don’t trust everyone.
- Don’t exhibit or share your telephone numbers with anybody you have not met till you have received an official mail from an official id from them.
- DON’T trust anyone who doesn’t have his/her profile picture. Only those who have something to hide will not put a profile picture on a professional site.
- Do a thorough background check of the company and candidate before beginning any conversation with the person.
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