cooker

There's a certain segment of the population who are predisposed to be hostile to cyclists, and we hear about it on the forum and in the media and see it in our lives, and others who may make assumptions about car ownership or use somehow being an indicator of maturity or reliability, and presumably some of either group are going to be hiring people, so I don't think it's a total myth that being LCF/LCL might make an employer think twice about hiring you. Hopefully it's not so widespread or endemic that it poses a major threat to someone's employability, but I don't think it should be laughed off.

350htrr

I am not belittling the concept/idea/that some people are hostile to cyclist's, I am merely saying in my working life I have never heard of how you get to work being as important as you getting to work... My wife has walked to work 99% all her 40+ years of working, she also doesn't see any prejudiced bosses as to how you get to work, just get there... As to it being a total myth, well I am 100% sure there are some bosses that do discriminate, for a lot of reasons including bicycling to work... BUT getting to work is top of their list no matter how, bus, walking, bicycling, driving, taxi... again, I don't think most bosses CARE, so that makes it a myth... IMO

Walter S

In my area I'd be most comfortable getting a zipcar/etc for going to the interview.

Walter S

Then show up late because you had to fix a flat. That's why I'm serious about flat protection. And it helps that I show up pretty early every day. If I get delayed I might have to settle with just on time

350htrr

So do you, think it's a myth that employers would be not as likely to hire a person because he be riding a bicycle to work...?

Or, there IS a kernel of truth in that some wouldn't hire a person, but most would...?

Or is it true that most would not hire a person because he would be riding a bicycle to work...?

cooker

Personally I think it's scenario 2. There's enough of a chance you could run into someone who has overt hostility or mild discomfort about employees biking to work that you should be sure that your habits are not on their radar, unless you already know they are bike-friendly.

Once you're actually employed, it's probably not going to matter so much how you get there, as long as you get there, and if they have any misgivings at that stage, they'll have to get over them.

350htrr

I lean towards scenario #1, as I think that about 1% of bosses would discriminate... Makes the discrimination a Myth. (yes I know, technically it's true, so it's not a myth)

In scenario # 2 I'm thinking about 10% of bosses would discriminate... Makes the discrimination a misconception overall. (when applied to everyone who rides a bike to work)

In scenario # 3 I'm thinking 51%+ of bosses would discriminate... Makes it a way that it just IS, a fact of bike riding life. (outside of the box thinking has a price).

Rowan

Aha... I never opened the link because... I don't open ad links. And it also explains why I was getting them all the time while in Canada but not here in Australia.

But again it's another of those commercial conundrums that a car manufacturer wants to be associated with cycling, yet the majority of its own customers seem to despise cyclists being on the road.

350htrr

That's because car companies "want" to be "associated" with, GOOD, CLEAN, LIVING, ECO-FRENDLY, and to make it NORMAL to do everything in a car... (just like riding a bicycle) used to be "normal" and good for everyone...

EVEN, tire manufacturer's name their tires "open road" "open country", "trail blazer", "mileage miser", "mud bogger" or some such, affiliating themselves with more benign things, Nature, it's all GOOD!!! Because it allows you freedom to go where ever you want, through deserts, streams, creeks, mountains trails, you know, Nature, romping through the countryside, having fun, you know F' the wildlife, F' the fish, I want to be able to do this and I have the "right" to do this, I love nature, lets all romp though the wilderness in our 4X4 crossing creeks and rivers and rip around on our motorbikes and all terrain buggies ...

EDIT; err, whoops, a bit of a rant there, but I stand behind my basic premise that car companies want to associate with what's the word... Cleaner,? transport methods.?

Machka 

I've never had a boss who cared how I got to work ... just that I showed up.

Where I am now, I'd venture a guess that most people walk, cycle or use public transportation.

Walter S

It's influenced by culture. Most of us know intuitively what kinds of behaviors might push buttons with significant members of the public. Think about what kind of attitude towards bicycles gets projected by the car drivers in your life. Your potential employers are sprinkled among that crowd. If people regularly get hung up behind your bicycle and honk or just floor it after a couple seconds of waiting, those might be the people interviewing you - and they already have an attitude before the interview starts.

tandempower

I would not waste money and time biking to pick up a zipcar so that I could pay for it to sit in the parking lot while I interviewed for a job. Especially if you are unemployed and you don't know how soon you'll be getting paid again, I would not spend money unnecessarily like this.

Lol, I never think about what the cars driving through nature in the ads are doing to the nature by driving through it. I get conflicted b/c I think it's good that they're promoting appreciation for nature, and sometimes I think the more popular LCF becomes, the more people will stop caring about nature because they'll get used to urban living; but in reality it's probably the opposite and people appreciate nature more the more effort it takes to visit it. Probably those car ads about driving through nature motivate urban people to get cars based on the belief that they will go out and visit nature more because they bought the car.

Walter S

It may or may not be "unnecessary". Getting a job is a competitive process. Things that don't matter much may still be the difference between you and a different candidate getting the job.

If you don't live hand to mouth then the cost if these things during the presumably rare times you look for a job won't matter. In my case I've been working for the same place since 1992. In 1992 if I had spent $500 on rental cars while I looked for job that would look pretty damn good compared to all the money I've made in the last 25 years

tandempower

I've applied to countless jobs, and gotten invited for significantly less interviews but certainly not every interview results in a job. Regardless, I wouldn't drive for the sake of making an impression any more than I would wear a three-piece suit to a job if I would never want a job where I had to wear a three-piece suit. The older I get, the more freedom I feel to reject social expectations that have no sensible purpose. I realize that if people hiring or the clients of the business are willing to reject the talents of a person in favor of someone else less talented who dresses a certain way or uses a certain kind of vehicle, they're just not a serious company. They might be in the business of putting together a social club where investors feel comfortable doling out money, but if they're not looking at the things that matter and ignoring the things they don't, it would be a waste of my energy and time to partner with them.

ironwood

"Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes." Henry David Thoreau

350htrr

Ha, Ha, attitude before the interview starts... I remember walking out of interviews where they started to ask me stupid (psychological) questions.? What would you do if this happened, what would you do if that happened, how would you feel if... I would say I AM an expert at getting jobs, I have probably at a minimum had 400 jobs and probably closer to 600, over my working life. SSsoo, I do think I do know what employers want. I probably got fired from 3 of those jobs and quit about 6 of them because the company wasn't good enough for me to work for, how's that for attitude. and... YES I am proud of my record, I have a success rate of 9/500= 98.2% most people probably have less than 10 jobs in their life, if they quit 1 and get fired from 1 that is an 80% success rate.

Believe me bosses do NOT care how you get there, they care how well you do your job and that you are there on time to do that job...

Walter S

I agree. But during the interview the boss doesn't know you, and their prejudices may influence their guesses about what you will be like as an employee in ways that are not in your favor regardless of what kind of person you really are. You may convey an attitude that is energetic, creative, enthusiastic, responsible, and goal oriented. Or you might look like a laid back dude that works when he needs to pay bills but would otherwise like goofing off on his bicycle - I wonder if he's in financial trouble all the time? Can he afford a car?

wolfchild

600 jobs in a lifetime ??...that means changing a job every 1-2 months...Why would you change jobs so often ??

350htrr

I was in construction and I deliberately picked jobs like shutdowns where you worked 12Hr+ every day for the whole job so I actually ended up working about 3 to 4 months of the year in TOTAL and lived life the rest of the year instead of working 50 weeks a year...

cooker

Is it often with the same employer?

350htrr

Not really, minimum of about 50 different companies, and I mean different type of jobs, (vacuum cleaner salesman, garbage man, labourer, forklift operator...), probably closer to 100 different companies over all... and... even if it was the same company different branches different bosses throughout the years.

Walter S

Exactly. Make it obvious what a good choice they made when they hired you. Then the bicycle is a non-issue.

Mobile 155

Seems like there is too much interest in what some "think" others that more than likely don't even think about them are thinking. Unless you know the interviewer socially chances are they just see you as a candidate for employment.

I think we should step back a minute and take a good look at what some seem to be trying to say. This forum represents a minority of people in a bicycle forum that is a minority interest in itself. This forum is in no way representative of what the majority of people think or do.
When we assume why someone didn’t hire an employee it often comes from the person that didn’t get hired and that is hardly an objective point of view. In all seriousness I believe the ones suggesting that a future employer is simply interested in if the person they are interviewing can do the job and will be the best asset to the business or company.

I have never attended a management and personnel conference where spotting cyclists, walkers or bus riders were touched upon. People need to understand that they are no more than one out of 320-350 million people living in the U.S. Not many personnel directors care about anything other than punctuality, dependability and proficiency. Yes you have people driving on the road that don’t care for cyclists but what are the chances that they will be the ones sitting across the desk giving an interview? About what it is to get hit by a lightning bolt or attacked by a shark I would think.

Having hired people before it is how well they know what I am looking for in an employee and how dependable they will be that impresses me most. After running a background check on all of the ones I interviewed I would narrow it down to three people and choose between those three. I didn’t care who they thought they were and what their social status was. It has been my experience that maybe 99 percent of the people doing the interviews for employment care about how confident and professional the person being interviewed looks and sounds. In my case I had 6 months of probation to find out if they were going to work out after I hired them.
In my opinion LCF has nothing to do with getting a job. The way a LCF employee presents themselves has everything to do with getting hired, just like someone who is not LCF.

Rollfast

Rollfast

Nice job(s)!