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Ask HN: How to deal with potential discrimination when applying for job

by twohaibei on 8/9/22, 10:01 PM with 19 comments

Hello,

I'm a developer with 14+ years of experience. Im male, white, heterosexual and I have my photo in my CV.

Couple months ago I found a great job offer. I check all the required boxes, most of the "nice to haves". I applied, 24 days later i received canned response about "not moving forward". I didnt make anything out of it. Couple months passed, I see the offer is still up, accepting applicants.

I decided to check out the person who rejected me on linkedin and found that its not a white guy with "Diversity and Inclusion" in his title, and "Diversity and inclusion is one of my foundational pillars, and I'm driven to introduce more diversity to the tech world."

Without going into too much detail, I suspect my rejection might be caused by "diversity and inclusion" part of his title, not the "Technical Recruiter" part.

I have pretty good record of getting invited to all 2nd+ stages of recruitements even if my experience does not fit as perfect as this time, hence my surprise and investigation.

Any ideas how could i approach the subject to be at least evaluated when it comes to culture fit, technical abilities, teamwork, by people who are competent and will potentially work with me, instead of resume shuffler?

Write to a senior recruiter on linkedin and ask if he could evaluate my CV personally? Give up? Forge my CV to include non-white photo (or remove it altogether) and pretend that my camera is broken until i get past him? Is there any chance to get past this filter?

I would rather not start any relationship with a lie. Having said that, desperate times...

I really like the company, product (ive used it in the past), offer is very suitable for me, so i wouldnt want to pass it lightly.

Any advice appreciated. Thank you very much.

  • by sn0w_crash on 8/9/22, 10:08 PM

    My advice is to go to another job and move on.

    A lawsuit would take a long time and is very difficult to prove. Short of an insider to corroborate this, you’re probably SoL.

    If they continue with these hiring practices (they will), they will have a tough time hiring and their business will suffer.

    Find yourself a company that doesn’t hire based on skin color and be successful.

  • by lmarcos on 8/9/22, 11:16 PM

    Would be interesting as an experiment: send to the same recruiter a copy of your CV with a different picture and different name. Make sure you add a gender that it's not that common for the given invented name (e.g., invented name = Robert Langdon, invented gender = female). Keep the rest of your CV the same (perhaps shuffle it a bit, make non-core changes, change the font and layout).

    If the recruiter is moving forward with your application, then you have a pretty clear proof of discrimination (now, what's the reason for the discrimination? No idea, but it's based on the diff between your original CV and the modified one).

  • by tunap on 8/10/22, 12:04 AM

    For various reasons, in the US to qualify for tax advantages and guv contracts, some firms are required to post any & all opening for X days/weeks/months. Often enough, if it's a good job, they already have their future hire decided before the post goes live.

    As to the discrimination possibility: would you want to be a part of that environment, if it were true? Well intentioned or obfuscated toxicity is still toxic.

    As always, YMMV.

  • by sys_64738 on 8/9/22, 10:29 PM

    Stop including photos. Reduce the amount of years you include in work history. Remove DOB or other identifying info. Some things you can do to increase chances and somethings you can’t. I don’t know what the solution is for rampant sexism and racism beyond saying those are toxic positions.

  • by morelandjs on 8/9/22, 11:43 PM

    I suspect you are greatly over estimating how much this has disadvantaged you in the grand scheme of things. Move on, forget about it, and count your blessings.

    What happened to you is wrong, but it’s also a daily occurrence for many people that are not white men.

  • by soueuls on 8/9/22, 11:17 PM

    Discriminations should be legal.

    You can either try to remove your picture and reapply through a different channel, or move on and apply elsewhere.

    This company seems to have different values.

  • by drdo on 8/10/22, 8:01 AM

    I would say just move on. There's little to be gained by pursuing this.

    Additionally, why do you have a photo on your CV?

  • by yuppie_scum on 8/10/22, 2:38 AM

    I think putting your photo on your resume is weird in general

  • by bluWolf on 8/9/22, 10:16 PM

    Are you sure you're not a transgender lesbian with gende r fluidity? You must think about that.