Dealing with Discrimination

As an HR professional I get discouraged when I read or hear about hiring discrimination. No, I’m not referring to religious, age, or gender discrimination. This type of discrimination isn’t covered by employment laws, and it doesn’t carry penalties. I’m referring to the short-sighted discrimination employers are exhibiting against candidates who have been laid off for more than 6 months, or those candidates that are deemed "overqualified" as a result of a quick 20-second scan of their resume. 

If you are currently conducting a job search or you are responsible for recruiting and hiring and are currently searching for the "right" talent, I hope you’ll read on.

"Do Not Apply If Currently Unemployed!" – We’ve all had those moments when we’ve been reminded that life isn’t always fair; and in many instances, the seemingly "unfair" situation has pushed us to grow and explore other options that we probably wouldn’t have given thought to otherwise. So it goes with hiring discrimination. You may have to look to others options if presented with discriminatory practices.

It’s not fair that employers and recruiters are overlooking the potential of individuals who may have taken a year or so to "reinvent" themselves, but the disqualified job seeker may have to chalk it up to "a better opportunity, and employer, are just around the corner." Employers with this type of hiring policy are so focused on the last record of employment that they are missing some good connections. Unfortunately, if the last employment was over 12 months ago very few employers are going to take the time to understand why. What they’re missing is that it takes courage, risk-taking, creativity and motivation to step out and do something different. All of these, by the way, are competencies and traits employers are seeking.

"You’re Overqualified For Our Position." – So goes it for the experienced candidate who meets the position requirements, but also offers additional knowledge, skills and abilities. The prevailing assumption on hiring a candidate who appears overqualified is that "the person [candidate] will be bored and not motivated, so they will underperform or leave," this according to Professor Berrin Erdogan, who was recently quoted by Amy Gallo in the Harvard Business Review.

Surprisingly, however, Professor Erdogan’s research indicates just the opposite. Her findings show that these risks may be more perceived than real. This erroneous perception is resulting in missed opportunities for the employer who isn’t thinking beyond the immediate need. The candidate who on the surface appears overqualified may actually be the perfect fit for what the position will require in another 6-8 months. But it takes time to get to know the candidate and make these decisions, and that doesn’t seem to be time some employers are willing to pay for. Short-sighted? I would say yes.

Lessons for the Job Seeker
So what should you do if you are a job seeker who finds yourself falling into either of these buckets of discrimination? I say, get over the fact that it’s not fair and realign your approach to help educate employers and recruiters to the potential you offer.

If you’ve been out of work for any substantial period of time, it’s important that your resume, cover letter, 30-second commercial and networking experiences reflect what you’ve been doing during that time to be productive, contributing to society, and building skills. So how can you do that if you’re not "working"?

• Volunteer - Highlight your roles and responsibilities on your resume for the organizations where you are serving as a volunteer, leader, or mentor.  
• Pro Bono - Take on a pro bono project through a professional organization where you can contribute to serving business needs while aligning your assignments with specific career goals. Be sure to note your role as a pro bono consultant on your resume along with a description of your responsibilities and the knowledge, skills and abilities being utilized to accomplish your project performance goals.
• Consult - Reach out to your network and ask for consideration to assist with projects, at no cost, in order to remain productive and keep your skills fresh. You may be asked to sign documentation that confirms you are offering your services for free; but nothing ventured, nothing gained.  
• Professional Development - Assess the feedback you are gathering from employers who have not hired you and address those issues. Perhaps this involves going back to school for additional education or courses on new technology. Maybe it involves engaging a career coach to assist you with building communications or interpersonal skills. Reinvention is possible – at any age, in any profession.

Note: If you are unemployed and not volunteering, shadowing, or doing something productive part-time, you need to start doing something immediately. The writing is on the wall – employers noting a long gap in employment with no other engagements to allow for growth and expansion will probably saddle you with an image of not willing to take initiative, or not being able to implement appropriate job search strategies. Don’t let that happen to you.

In those situations where you are exploring job opportunities that may require less education or experience than you offer, it’s important that you do your homework and help the person you are networking or interviewing with to vision how your skills will help them in the short- and long-term.

Employers know that the way we do business is not the same as it was in the past. They also know that the way we perform our work today isn’t going to be the same as what we’ll be doing three years from now. I say they should know this, but often you’ll find (sorry to write this) the HR representative fills for the job using the previous job description and doesn’t think to explore what may be needed in the near future rather than what was required in the past. So your job is to talk about what you bring to the table and how that will help the organization today, but more importantly, tomorrow. Help them understand that the additional experience you offer can aid them in getting the best ROI (return on investment) for the current situation, as well as helping the organization achieve goals for the future.

Lessons for Leaders
Change isn’t easy. I keep writing about it, and talking about it, and we still see the evidence that it’s difficult for individuals and organizations to change. The Huffington Post recently noted that according to the Labor Department there are five-and-a-half active candidates for every job that is available. I believe HR organizations disqualifying this segment of the talent pool in an effort to recycle only the current workforce are short-sighted. In fact, some economists are saying this unhealthy trend could prolong the recession as a result of not getting more people back to work.

I’m not suggesting that unqualified individuals should be hired just so we get unemployed folks back into the labor market. If someone does not meet the qualifications of a job, regardless of whether they are currently unemployed or employed, it does no one any good to put them into a position where they can’t be successful and the organization will spend more time and money trying to train them, or trying to document why they have to be terminated.

I believe leadership has a responsibility to encourage recruiters and hiring mangers to hire not just for today, but to keep the bigger picture in mind of what the job will transition into. They should be promoting practices that support getting to know candidates and making judgments about suitability and fit (current and future) only after work history and experience have been explored. Job seekers have a responsibility to sell themselves for today and tomorrow, but HR also should be investing in understanding the business strategies and vision in order to rethink and re-envision how candidate values, knowledge, experiences, skills and abilities fit the bigger picture of workforce planning.

It appears our "old" HR hiring practices are out of date. HR has to source, screen and interview candidates with a mind’s eye on the present yes, but also must be plugged into the needs of the future organization. Organizations should be on-boarding with processes that manage immediate career expectations, but also address how employees will fit into future business strategies. Embracing a policy that declares only employed candidates should apply is going in the wrong direction. This harkens back to the days of discrimination in gender, race, nationality, etc. that served no useful purpose. We need to learn from our mistakes, embrace new opportunities, and celebrate the diversity that all kinds of experiences can bring to spark innovation and creativity.

So What’s Next?
In addition to addressing these two new trends in discrimination, organizations have another opportunity looming on the horizon that they need to address. According to a survey conducted by MetLife, 36% of the currently employed workforce indicates they want to jump ship for a new opportunity! That’s a healthy number of employees feeling disconnected from their employers. As more jobs become available, and if only currently employed candidates can apply, there’s going to be a continuous revolving door of turnover. This game of musical chairs will undoubtedly lead to higher costs as the functions of recruitment, hiring and on-boarding are expensive; not to mention the cost associated with the loss of knowledge. Is your organization on top of this? Losing great workers to competitors isn’t an announcement any manager wants to hear.

I’ve shared these thoughts about some latest trends, now I’m curious to hear from you. Do you think the practices of only considering employed candidates and candidates who have only the required skills - no less and certainly no more - are healthy and appropriate HR practices? What role should HR leadership be playing? Please comment below.

Q&A
Dear Job Seeker:
I recently had an interview where one of the questions I was asked was, "If you were a crayon in a box of crayons what color would you be?" That really threw me off guard and I know I stumbled. What’s up with that?
- Sam

Check out Dear Job Seeker for my answer to Sam's question.