Blog #1

            Race and the hiring process has historically been a widely debated aspect of society. The past century has seen vast advancements in affirmative action, hiring quotas, and ultimately the diversification of the workplace, however there is still much controversy and debated regarding the hiring process and its fairness. White privilege is believed to have a strong presence in the decision of who is offered a job, and looking at statistics its overwhelmingly evident that those who fall under the ethnic category of white have it easiest in trying to land a job. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, whites are second in population percentage in the labor force, are nearly twice as likely to have higher education attainment before getting hired than blacks and Hispanics, and have the lowest rates of unemployment amongst all races in America. There is no doubting that the color of one’s skin and ethnic background play a role in the hiring process.

            Acknowledging the effects of ethnicity on landing on a job, research has shown that referrals hold even more weight than the color of one’s skin. A referral is this case is simply a recommendation of a worker by an employee, and most commonly involve promoting of a person’s ability or past experiences. Networks, Race, and Hiring, an article done in 2009 published in the American Journal of Sociology, explores aspects of the hiring process and specifically the effects of references on getting hired for people of different ethnicity. According the article, blacks, Hispanics, any anyone who is not deemed white or Asian to some extent are believed to be in a viscous circle of getting sucked into the “wrong network.” What is meant by wrong networks is that although references and networking is an effective way to land a job, amongst minorities, these are ethnic networks of low wage, dead end jobs. This trend then continues, as friends and family will be referred by people of similar ethnic back rounds, and mobility in the job market will be limited, causing stagnation in the social hierarchy for ethnic groups.

            Another important aspect of referrals is their consistency across racial groups. Statistics in the article have revealed that once referred, a person’s ethnicity tends to disappear, no matter what their background, thus altering the entire hiring process. Once referred, the employer’s initial reaction to the job seeker is changed, as they have e per-conceived notion on what kind of worker the person could be, and what they could bring to the company, solely based off of what was said in their referral. This stamps stereotypes, stigmas, and labels, and other preconceived notions based on a person’s race, showing the significant ability of the referral.

            What makes referrals so versatile in the hiring process is that any employ can give one out regardless of their ethnicity. However, just as actually receiving job offers, referrals tend to hold more weight hen given by a person considered white, showing the inequality in the job market. Those who are not white find jobs far more through referrals than through any alternate means of obtaining a job. With the imbalance of referring power tiled towards whites, in a world where non-whites are almost completely reliant on referrals, social isolation can occur, as an ethnic group will be confined to a series of low paying, low status jobs.

            One may think of a job hiring process as a meritocracy, but without referrals, there is much more that meets the eye regarding race. In Offering a Job:Meritocracy and Social Networks, a research is conducted at a tech company in Silicon Valley. Hiring in the job market was analyzed to see if using merit as a control, there would be any trends worth noting. The hypothesis reigned true, at the longitudinal study showed that 10% of those hired were white, double that of the 4.5% blacks who were hired, and still significantly higher than the 6% Asians, showing that when those with similar back rounds are vying for the same job opportunity, white advantage rears is evident.

            White advantage also applies to the all powerful referral. Referrals are largely based off of legitimacy, more valid the person giving the referral, the stronger it is.  That being said, finding a job has a lot to do with ones network. This applies to white privilege as whites are generally born into families with more networks than minorities, who experience a “lack of economic resources and personal networks,” (Fernandez, 2006). This allows for whites to have less trouble getting job offers, allowing smooth social mobility, where those with different ethnicity and races are not given the luxury of having strong connections so readily available.