For a Brief Moment, a Job Ad for a College Wanted a Shirtless ‘Male Producer’

An Ontario college is trying to figure out how a job ad asking for men to submit shirtless videos of themselves ended up on its LinkedIn page.

The listing, screenshotted and shared on Twitter Wednesday morning by Toronto journalist Katie Jensen, suggested that Durham College was looking for a “male media producer” who could “create entertaining situations” while recording and producing YouTube videos with a group of people.

“Details, payment and other conditions open for negotiation,” the ad reads. “Apply with a shirtless short video presenting yourself and the talents you can add.”

In a reply to the tweet, Durham College quickly denied it had authorized the ad. 

“We can confirm this job posting did not originate from Durham College and is not legitimate. We are investigating its origin and working with LinkedIn to rectify the situation and remove this post,” Durham College tweeted. 

The ad has since been removed from LinkedIn.

VICE World News has discovered the same ad was posted on Kijiji nearly a week earlier by Rhuam Gabriel Cavalcante Brandão, who claimed to be a “peer tutor” at the school.

Cavalcante Brandão explained to VICE World News he had posted the ad requesting shirtless videos because he is trying to start a reality show-style YouTube channel, and wanted to test if applicants were “comfortable on camera.”

Cavalcante Brandão said he had “no idea” how the ad ended up on LinkedIn, and claimed he never posted it there, nor did he try to represent the job as being offered by Durham College.

“My idea was that I wanted to create a YouTube crew and members had to be male because of the content I want to create,” he said, comparing the concept of the channel to that of famous YouTuber David Dobrik.

“The shirtless part is because I’d prefer working with people that would have an open mind to create content, he said. “The content has nothing to do with sex appeal.”

Jensen suggested to VICE World News that LinkedIn Talent Solutions—the site/system that is responsible for generating job postings on the site—does not “have a stringent enough filter” to weed out phony postings from real ones. 

“In LinkedIn Talent Solutions, you can enter any company’s name, regardless of whether you work there, or even if they’re hiring at the time. The only filter that I can see is whether the company itself has already activated jobs within LinkedIn Talent Solutions,” Jensen said.

“It’s not Durham College’s fault that anyone was able to mask the posting on LinkedIn.”

VICE World News has contacted LinkedIn for comment and will update the story when we hear back.

Follow Jake Kivanç on Twitter.