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- Are you unhireable? (Issue #17)
Are you unhireable? (Issue #17)
And is that the most important question?
Chris Musei-Sequeira
June 17, 2025
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Are you unhireable? Will you ever get a “real job” ever again?
Over the past year, I’ve spoken with numerous people who were fired from their jobs or lost clients for merely speaking out against the genocide in Palestine. Many of those people were Muslim women, but not all.
Perhaps you’d respond, “well… don’t say anything political in the work environment! Keep your job and your clients by keeping your mouth closed.” My reply to you would then be as follows: “I’m sure you said the same thing about Black Lives Matter in 2020 and Ukraine in 2022, yes?” I’m leaving aside, for now, the deeper question of why some topics are considered “political” and others are not. (Note: that very question is inherently political.)
In truth, I see the merits of keeping one’s mouth shut… and I understand that it takes some privilege to be able to speak out, as I’ve written about before. When you have a voice, what will you say? When you have privilege, what will you do? I’m talking about expressing a value that seems so basic, to me, that it should be uncontroversial. And yet, there are certain entities out there that have made this so controversial (at least in the so-called “West”) that even hitting the “Like” button on a post can cost you your job.
“Actions have consequences,” as all the cool kids say. Yes indeed… and that's my point. This is why I admire those people who have spoken up against the genocide in Palestine. Students, employees, business owners… those people are my heroes. Yet, I don’t want to fetishize self-sacrifice. I’m well aware of the irony in my own outspokenness: I wouldn’t have such a privilege if not for the years I spent in my own career keeping my head down as a good little employee and saving a bunch of money… not to mention the numerous other non-financial privileges I have as a relatively healthy person who clearly presents as a cisgender man.
I still encourage you to take stock of your privileges on a regular basis. Perhaps you have more privilege than you realize. Keeping your head down and your mouth closed does mitigate the risk of professional consequences, but it does not eliminate it. You can scrub your LinkedIn profile, delete all your social media accounts, tell job interviewers whatever they want to hear, stay indoors so you don't accidentally be seen anywhere near the proximity of a protest… You can do all those things, but is that the way you want to live?
Are you unhireable? Will you ever get a “real job” ever again?
I've got a different question: who do you want to be when you grow up, and what steps will you take to become that person? The answer to that question will determine the course of your life to a much greater degree than any individual job.
Where to find the perspectives you’ve been missing
FIRST: Subscribe to the Morning Tinto podcast, where my friend Heather Luna and I use the lenses of oppression and resistance to talk about events that happen right before recording.
SECOND: Subscribe to our professional offers-and-needs networking events announcement list. Heather and I regularly host FREE online events where professionals can offer help (free or paid) and ask other professionals to meet their needs.
THIRD: Follow these awesome folks on LinkedIn:
Heather Luna of keduzi: workshopping pro-connectedness and anti-oppression as a way of life
Lavinia Muth: deconstructing the (un)sustainable fashion industry
Dr. Vidhya Shankar, Ph.D: decentering whiteness in evaluation of non-governmental organization projects
FOURTH: Forward this issue to people you know who are doing decolonial and anti-oppression work.
Got something to say to me?
I’m Chris, the Principal of CJSC, LLC, and I’m (un)learning along with all of you — so hit the “reply” button and give me a piece of your mind!
Know someone who needs to see this issue? Hit the “Forward” button in your email app and send this to them.
My position
My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father is Goan and was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.
My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18; I now reside in Queens, New York with my wife.
I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing our positions. Because of our positions, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects. Positionality expresses how our individual positions affect our relationships with other people and with the world as a whole.
Image source: File:Suit and tie (Unsplash).jpg - Wikimedia Commons. (2016, November 13). https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suit_and_tie_(Unsplash).jpg. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.