Avoiding discrimination in your job search

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Resources of the Week

1. Nearly 1200 jobs on our community job board...people are hiring y’all!!

2. I wrote an article on the “coffee badging” trend for Business Insider - check it out here!

3. Are you following me on Instagram? I’ve been answering follower questions in stories today and will repeat this semi-regularly! I covered transitioning from the military, following up with recruiters after an interview, and asking for days off at a new job for religious reasons. I can’t get to every question but will do my best!

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Discrimination in Your Job Search

I’ve seen a lot of conversations around this as we’ve seen identity-based on attacks on Kamala Harris’s candidacy, so I wanted to use this as a platform to offer some advice and resources on this topic!

I do truly believe that the vast majority of people try to do right by people, do not want to discriminate against anyone, etc. I also think many of us are not fully aware of our own biases and they can creep in, even with the best of intentions.

There are a whole bunch of things a company cannot ask you in the interview process - things like “where are you originally from” or “how old are your kids” are illegal. You are welcome to offer this info yourself, but remember that if you do, it could give them info that can be used to discriminate against you. Here’s a list from Yale University that can be a helpful resource.

_{So, what should you do if you’re asked these questions?}

Sometimes it’s genuinely poor training. You bring up that you and the kids were at the fair this weekend, and they say, “I have a 3 year old, how old are your kids?” This is probably genuine small talk from someone, and you kicked off the fact that you have kids. It’s probably safe to answer or say something vague like “in elementary school”.

But maybe it feels like it’s totally out of context, feels like they are fishing for info

1. You can answer. Some people might think that if a company is looking for reasons to discriminate, you don’t want to work there anyway. So just answer but make a note that the question was asked.

2. Redirect the question. Let’s say they ask you your age. Instead of sharing your age, you can say, “I have about 10 years of experience in digital marketing.”

3. You can politely point out their error, and seek clarification. I would never assume ill intent and you can use this as a chance to show how you react to mistakes in a positive and professional way. Try saying something like, “I know it’s illegal to discuss ethnicity in an interview so I wouldn’t want either of us to accidentally introduce this information into the conversation, but if you can tell me more about what you’re hoping to understand, I’d be happy to share the relevant information.”
   Maybe what they really want to know is if you know how to navigate cultural norms in South America or whether you speak Japanese which is a requirement of the role. This gives them a chance to clarify their intent so you can share the relevant info.

4. Refuse to answer. You’re allowed to say, “I’m not comfortable answering this question, can we keep our focus on my experience and skills, and how they align with this position?

Afterwards, you can decide how to proceed. If you believe it’s being held against you, you can always raise this with your recruiter, contact the HR department, or contact the EEOC to file a formal complaint (though transparently, these cases are really hard to prove, and very few people get any sort of positive outcome from pursuing this. But at least you’re putting it on their radar in case there’s a trend.

Sharing information that could lead to discrimination

Sometimes, you need accommodations to do the job due to a disability, religion, etc. Or perhaps you are pregnant and will need parental leave. When do you share this information?

My suggestion: wait until the offer stage unless you need accommodations in the interview process itself. They are already invested in you so they are less likely to hold it against you, and more invested in supporting you.

Companies are generally required to make reasonable accommodations as long as it doesn’t cause undue hardship to the company. You can learn more about that here.

A final note

Things like race, gender, and ethnicity are protected classes specifically because they have historically been used to discriminate against people. There is really only one group that has historically benefited from identity-based hiring and that’s white men, especially wealthy white men. (I know that’s hard for some to read, but it’s also a hard to deny when this is the only group that is overrepresented in the workforce. That doesn’t take away the hard work, intelligence, or qualifications of these men, it simply means that they got an extra boost based on “looking the part”.

The people we see referred to as “DEI hires” typically have had to overcome NOT looking the part which means being so qualified that they are able to push a hiring manager to look past their biases.

I have been a part of many organizations and companies that value diversity in hiring. Not once were our policies centered around hiring a woman or hiring a person of color. They were always focused on the top of the funnel - building diverse pools so that we had diverse candidates to choose from, and on consistent processes and anti-bias training to help us remove bias from the process. You can read a bit more here.

The phrase “DEI hire” has become a dog whistle for racism, and if you’re reading this newsletter and find yourself using this phrase, I ask that you either strike it from your vocabulary and take some time to read up on this topic.

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🙋Answering Your Questions🙋

Each week, I’ll answer one (or more!) of your questions in this section. You can submit your questions here.

I can’t speak for every company, but in general, I think companies consider those to be talent communities they can engage, and they may source from those pools, but I would not view your submission as an application.

I think it’s worth submitting your information as they may invite you to events, send you updates, or alert you to relevant openings.

I would also monitor their jobs page and apply directly any time you see a job. Depending on timing or applicant volume, a recruiting team may not look at their talent community, or make look at more recent submissions. So it’s safest to apply directly in my opinion!

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