EMPLOYMENT PREJUDICE PERSISTS

I have been involved with recruitment for over 40 years, often at a very senior level. In the current situation, caused largely by Coronavirus, many people have lost their jobs or seen their businesses go under. As a consequence, we can expect to see the employment market flooded

I have recently become aware of job seekers who have come up against significant prejudice; never overt of course, much more subtle than that. We can champion equality and diversity but in reality, despite legislation, and the big stick approach, it is largely still business as usual; ‘jobs for the boys’ or, ‘you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.’

One of the real issues, especially at a local level, is that small organisations, whilst they may mean well, often lack the appropriate skills and knowledge to recruit effectively. By this I mean objectively; matching the person concerned to the criteria for the role, rather than rejecting them because ‘they are too old’, ‘they may have a hidden agenda’, ‘the presentation all seemed too slick’, or ‘I just preferred the other one’.

It is a fact of life that we naturally prefer to recruit and surround ourselves with those who are most like us, with whom we feel a common bond, and who will be least likely to threaten our own hierarchical position. As a result, it is all too easy to allow subjectivity, rather than objectivity, to come into play, allowing organisations to perpetuate bad practice, which can result in poor performance.  

There is an art to completing job applications. A ‘one size fits all’ CV is unlikely to tick the right boxes, and ticking all the right boxes is, I am afraid, what it is all about. I frequently hear of those who are deemed ‘over-qualified’ for a job being turned down out of hand. A canny applicant will learn to tell the employer what they want to hear, dumbing down their true skills, knowledge and experience if necessary. I know of one person, who in applying to be a supermarket shelf stacker, started to watch soaps rather than read Jane Austen, just so that they would fit in. This lack of honesty and integrity is not how is should be, but that is how it is in many companies, most of which do not even have the decency to acknowledge applications.

Many years ago, one of my most successful recruits, for a young tele-sales team, was a woman in her 50s, which caused raised eyebrows at the time. She turned out to be their most successful, loyal, salesperson.

There are some positives to come out the situation we are in; many types of business have seen the opportunity to thrive and will prosper. Those are the ones that we must support to get our economy going again and help to mend broken livelihoods by giving everyone an equal chance.