Corey Hedges
There has always been controversy in our country regarding
the competition for job openings and who rightfully deserves such spots. In the
past fifteen years this problem has gained more national attention due to the
large unemployment rate and the increased desire for work. However, our country
has several discrimination laws, some having been around for over fifty years,
but continuously making the news these days.
This
problem with discriminatory hiring practices is not just an issue between males
and females. Our country has laws set in place to protect prospective employees
from racial, pregnancy, age, disabilities, genetic, and rehabilitation
discrimination. As you can see there are a lot more bases covered than simply gender
discrimination. However, due to the complexity of race and the desire to
classify people into niches our country has seen a lot of confrontation rise
regarding hiring practices. In 2013 the unemployment rate for the United States
was 7.4 percent, for white Americans it was 6.5 percent, Asian Americans was
5.2, and African Americans was 13.1 percent. For more statistics regarding the
labor force you can click here.
The
problem with hiring practices is not simply apparent in personal interviews
though. Simply the spelling has been seen to become a racially important factor.
In the story below, a young male by the name of Jose had been on the job hunt
religiously for some time. Sending his resume out to hundreds of companies
daily, he was sure to receive a response with his educational background.
However, after continuously being rejected Jose decided to take action. He
simply dropped the “s” from his name so his resume would read “Joe.” And to his
surprise a week later several job offers from the same positions he had been
applying for under Jose were being sent his way. The simple difference in one
letter in his name somewhat “Americanized,” him in a way that is repulsive to
think about. The fact that someone would overlook a potential employ because of
something that was assumed about their heritage is the reason there is so many
racial tensions still apparent in our country. The link to Jose’s story can be
found here.
Businesses
continually preach how diversity is the key to a properly functioning company.
A diverse group results in a diverse way of thinking, and in order for
businesses to continue to advance and progress, creative thinking is necessary.
However it is clear that some have not fully bought into this correlation of
diversity and uniqueness of product results. The inability for some to even
retain an interview, much like Jose, is a serious problem that needs to be
addressed. If nonwhite Americans are not being interviewed they will continue
to hold lower level jobs that have be accessed through referrals. If referrals
is the sole capacity in which Americans of color can obtain a position, then we
will see no progress in our attempt at a diverse work force, and workers will
continue to be falling short of their potential.
The laws
are set in place by the United
States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to create a more racially
equal work setting, it is now up to companies and corporations to hold
themselves accountable for their own hiring practices. Being a morally and
ethically responsible company is another facet to which success can be reached.
Companies need to take it upon themselves to incorporate these practices in
their corporate social responsibility frameworks. The law can only attend to so
many of these cases that if companies do not take it upon themselves, someone
is going to be left out of a worthy opportunity.
Sources:
I think this article is very interesting and shocking. I think that the story with Jose how changing one letter of his name made him that much more liked for a job is ridiculous but unfortunately very true for many employers. I believe that many people are so concerned with their businesses image and what people will think that they cannot hire someone who doesn't look like the "social norm". I also agree with the fact that having diversity for a company is really key. How having diverse perspectives from all over are what really help a company prosper; but sadly numerous companies do not practice what they preach.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting article, I thought the specific example of the different spelling of one's last name to get hired for a job was absolutely shocking. With so many laws in place in place for discrimination in business, it was crazy to me that these kinds of things are still happening in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteI find the story about Jose to be fascinating. It is incredible to think that even in contemporary America we still have these problems. This article reminds me of a passage from Academic Profiling. A Mexican girl who is registered to be in the IB program walks into a class and is questioned by the teacher. Even though the girl was supposed to be in the IB class, the teacher found it very hard to be true that a Mexican girl was smart enough to take part. Race and Ethnicity should not be a topic of issue in employment, seeing as it should be based off of work ethic, intelligence, and experience, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThe article is very interesting, and the example of Jose really shocks. Even though the workforce claims that race and gender will not affect the choice of employment, discriminations still exist. It's very hard for the government agencies to control the problems, since the employers can have several excuses to their decisions. Fortunately, many companies realise the importance of the diversity in workplace, so many of them are working on diminish the inequality.
ReplyDelete