I was speaking to a recent college graduate/aspiring full-time writer the other day, and she said something that was very curious to me: prospective employers of writers or editors who are hiring freelancers are using Klout scores as part of the process. As someone who hires writers, the thought of using the social media measurement tool–their slogan: “The Standard for Influence”– has never crossed my mind.

If you’re catching up, Klout approaches your online presence as something scalable and measurable. It “isn’t about figuring out who is on the ‘A-list,’ the say. “We believe that every person who creates content has influence. Our mission is to help every individual understand and leverage their influence.”

While using credit scores to determine a hire has been controversial in the past, I wasn’t sure how widespread Klout was in new hires, so I turned to the internet to find if others shared the experienced.

Over at ZDNet last month, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols found himself in a similar situation:

Now you think “What nonsense! Who cares what your Klout score is!” I’d agree… until a few months ago when I was in the early stages of a book deal and the publisher insisted on knowing what my Klout score was.

And London-based blogger Antonia Harler back in December:

You know, it’s hard enough finding a job that you love without an additional number being used to compare you to the rest. And I so wish, companies would quit looking at Klout scores. I really do. It’s being used as a measure of success and that rubs me the completely wrong way. I was once told “This isn’t so good (referred to something I did), but you have a high Klout score, so you might be successful in the future after all.” If I hadn’t been so shocked about the ridicule of that statement by itself, I would have cracked up. I’m hardly ever speechless but that just left me staring at the person as though I’d just seen a ghost.

And Michelle Tripp at the BrandForward Blog:

At a recent Klout-Up in NYC, an HR recruiter was overheard talking about how they’re starting to use Klout to evaluate job applicants. When questioned by a Klout employee, the recruiter said they were using a score of “around 30″ as a gauge of minimum influence.

Yeah. Not only are they looking at your resume, Linkedin, Google footprint, Facebook activity, and Twitter feed… they’re also looking at where you stand in the social influence hierarchy.

There are plenty of more examples, and they and the above are not all writing gig-related, but you get the point.

From where I stand, as someone in public media who hires journalists, Klout has yet to play a factor. Maybe it will in the future, but right now it has zero influence on who I assign a story to.

I want solid writers and journalists. If they happen to have good influence, that’s great, but their craft and knowledge of a subject is of the utmost importance to me. I’m not going to give a bad writer a job just because their going to spike traffic for a day.

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe all writers need to work on social media and their personal brand, especially those who have yet to establish themselves–I have, after all, met writers through social media and later hired them–but it’s not the end-all-be-all. Social media is just one function of the bigger picture of marketing and relationships.

But back to Klout, or other measurement tools that come along in the future, as a determining factor in the hiring process for journalists. I personally still have a hard time thinking this is a tool I will use, but I’m sure I’ll come around, with a healthy balance, of course.

One part of me says, “You’re in public media, your goal is not just about pageviews, it’s about filling a void of news coverage that is in the public interest.” Another part says, “But someone with great Klout can help reach those communities seeking and in need of the important coverage we are providing.”

Are you an editor or writer who has some thoughts on Klout? Let me know in the comments.

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