Company shames woman applying for job by posting ‘unprofessional’ swimwear photo on Instagram

‘I was objectified earlier today by a company because of a picture of me in a bikini’

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A marketing company in Texas has come under fire after it shared a photograph of a prospective intern wearing a swimsuit on Instagram in an apparent attempt to shame her.

Emily Clow claims she was turned down by Kickass Masterminds shortly before the company posted a screenshot of one of her Instagram posts on its own Instagram story.

The photograph showed Clow in a swimming pool wearing a cutout swimsuit, on top of which the company wrote: “PSA (because I know some of you applicants are looking at this): do not share your social media with a potential employer if this is the kind of content on it [sic]."

“Go on with your bad self and do whatever in private. But this is not doing you any favours in finding a professional job.”

Clow, 24, shared a screenshot of the post on Twitter, writing: “I was objectified earlier today by a company because of a picture of me in a bikini. They claimed it made me ‘unprofessional’.”

“They screenshot the photo, posted it on their Insta story and called me out,” she continued. “I am still baffled that the company handled it in such a manner.”

Clow’s tweet, which has been liked more than 3,500 times, prompted a flurry of supportive messages from people expressing their outrage at Kickass Masterminds.

“That’s disgusting (and waaaay more unprofessional than a bikini photo) [sic],” commented one person.

“I hope they feel embarrassed as Hell for that! Also, how is that photo unprofessional? Like, you clearly aren’t on the clock in that pic, and it’s completely harmless.”

Another added: “I bet they don’t do the same when their male employees have pics of themselves in bathing suits”.

Kickass Masterminds has since switched its Instagram account to private.

The company’s founder, Sara Christensen, confirmed the incident to the MailOnline but said that Clow was not in fact rejected from the internship.

“The woman in question was not disqualified because of her social media profile,” she said.

“In fact, she was not disqualified at all. There was no communication to her saying she was disqualified.”

As for the photograph, Sara added: “She requested that I removed it and I did immediately.”

The Independent has contacted Kickass Masterminds for further comment.