This is a story about a girl named Lucky.

And why you shouldn’t share stranger’s resumes.

Photo by Mathew Browne on Unsplash

I met Lucky through a Slack community. My company recently closed a large round of funding and we had some roles we were ready to fill. I shared the positions we had available in this Slack community assuming that someone or someone’s would be qualified enough to be hired and allow me a recruiting bonus (moving your dog across the world is not cheap). Lucky was one of those people who responded to the listing.

The position Lucky responded to had been paused for our recruitment processes. In spite of this information, Lucky and I decided to meet for a virtual coffee.

Her story was one that I’d heard before, but more as tech folklore than from the horses mouth. She’d had a series of short stints with multiple tech companies and eventually landed at one of the leading e-course creation platforms on the internet. She loved it. She said her manager was incredible, her book of business was solid, and she felt like her work made a difference.

After many months with this company she found herself in a depressive state ultimately ending in the psych ward. What she’d been told before had been reinforced: She was bipolar.

She said that she eventually returned to her work medicated and confident that her path was clearer. So clear that she was open about her condition with her manager.

She also said that her manager “basically said” that she didn’t feel comfortable allowing someone with such a fragile mental state have a book of business as large as hers. Then she was let go.

Naturally, feeling this story I was enraged. Bipolar Disorder is almost a four letter word at this point. People use it against other people to explain behavior. Sometime’s it replaces the word bitch. Even in a culture as sensitive as ours it’s still not okay to be bipolar.

“It’s illegal!” I screamed. Then I went on my rant encouraging her to take them to court. Insisting that she share her story with the world to normalize mental health conditions in our industry. I was fired up. I felt a passion. I needed to help contribute to the wrong doing she experienced.

So, I shared her resume in another Slack community I’m in. I gave no details about…