Favouritism?

supafatty SG

Is there any real way of overcoming blatant favouritism during job selection?

Consider the scenario of A & B.

A - better results, work experience, excellent school and employer references

B - poorer results, no work experience, no school/employer references

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A is a guy, and B is a girl. Both don't look ugly, but neither are good looking either.

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A & B apply for a job at the same time.

It is a no interview, submit your paper qualifications and photo only.

B gets offered one, whilst A not only does not get offered one, does not receive a rejection.

--

Is there anyway to overcome such blatant discrimination? or to explain it at least?

DeathEdge SG

er.. B is a relative of the company boss? Lol, or is it because the job is more suitable for girls?

supafatty SG

First part - Nope

Second part - Nope again - open application to all

DeathEdge SG

well, now it narrows down to two possibility. Either its really pure gender discrimination or B did something in the dark to get the job. Anyway to A, there will always be better job elsewhere and to the company which didnt hire u, its their lost Smile

supafatty SG

Thanks for that, but it's very hard to keep that in mind .. especially when there's no explaination why the position was offered to someone who was weaker in all "aspects that would be considered".

This is even harder considering that they are the best, and only opportunity - I'm afraid I can't explain why .. sensitive.

Depressed...sigh SG

cheaper labour I think

nightsky87 SG

Agree. It is their loss.

Are you trying to point out the fact that the employer goes for looks/gender instead of solid qualifications? Some employers are like that. You have to understand that being an employer, they have the right to hire who they want, and in this case the employer probably wants a female instead of a male.

Please do not take it personally, I am sure that there are many, much better, more transparent and meritocratic employers out there. Don't give up.

browniebaobao SG

this is gender discrimination.

wat makes u think that bcos B is a girl, she gets the job?

More details pls, wat's the job that they applied for? dun talk abt results, talk abt skills.

eg, if it's a secretarial/clerical job, and B might have poorer results, but she is trained in Word Processing and secetarial stuff, of course she is more qualified for the job.

experiences and qualifications that are not related to the job that they were applying for are redundant.

Devil1976 SG

Such things happen... Often no point to look too deep into it as it's usually kinda pointless to do so?

laosu SG

I can't really give you an answer base on the above scenario, but I can tell you a real life incident.

I've got a friend who is sort of having slight physical defect at birth and her body is slightly shorter than of normal person. She's working in this company now which gave her comfortable salary but she isn't happy working there due to some work reasons. I've always encourage her to find another job, a new surrounding which might be good for her future too. What blaffed me initially is that she keep saying she's sick of the job and yet she refused to change job. It's only later that I realised that due to her defects and her low esteem, she didn't dare to go apply for anoher job.

I do admit that certain boss does show favouritsm but not all. Of course boss will still have their reasons to who they choose to employ in the end. For any job that requires sales whereby you'll have to meet clients. physical appearance and presentations are important (maybe more important than qualifactions). Knowledge can always be upgraded but looks are hard to upgrade. Most bosses will rather employ someone who has a better presentation than someone who is academically qualified but doesn't look presentable enough. But for a job that requires more of your brain (usually backend positions), boss will rather go for qualifications and experience than to be bother by how you look physically.

Another kind of boss is, they want fresh people with relavant qualification but zero work experience. Reason? It's easier to train them to work as what the company requires them especially in those engineering line. This is told to me by my boss when he's selecting applications. It's harder to get a person with working experience to follow the company's working style. They are too used to the ex-company and it'll take them a longer time to adjust to the current company they apply for. Short to say, it's easier to bend a young tree then to wait till it's tall and sturdy.

alexkusu SG

hmm...i hope all boses are like that Laughing

gerrykoh SG

The girl may be chosen cos the co. has a female working environment.
Another reason may be she is willing to work for lower pay.

laosu SG

depending on the requirements of the company at that point of time I guess. Newer companies would want to have experienced applicants to as to minimised training time and they can get things done faster. for those establised and on the mids of expanding, most will want to get fresh grads to train them up for future aspects for the company.

starblue SG

did they do a personality test??? maybe that's why lah... some smart guys are just Ashols. Mr. Green

Gedanken SG

Something that wasn’t covered in the original scenario: did A’s application definitely reach the recruiter, and if it did, did it get lost in a pile? There could be some bias here, but some days, sh!t just happens.

mrsmall SG

bcas the interviewer is supafatty

trajet SG

Usually what’s important nowadays is “cost”... Maybe B is willing to take the job for lower pay n more responsibilities… And of course everything that happened in the interview room matters… whether she’s flirty or act very professional despite her qualification and the interviewer just happen to prefer her outgoing character… Things not about qualification now… more to “LUCK”