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

9 points by twohaibei ↗ HN
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.

21 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 54.2 ms ] thread
sn0w_crash
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.

metadat
^ This.

Cast a wider net. It's just a numbers game.

And to be clear, in this instance you never reached the point of receiving an offer. It's just a job post, the job may not even really exist. All you know is that someone created the listing, beyond that it's meaningless.

xen2xen1
Interesting. The top comment for a descrimination claim is to "just move on"? If he were a black woman you'd never dare suggest that.
metadat
It's still nearly impossible to prove. Even if they hadn't disclosed their race/gender, the advice will remain the same.
jstx1
> If he were a black woman you'd never dare suggest that.

I would happily suggest to quickly move on after getting a generic "not moving forward" response to anyone regardless of their own race, gender, age etc.

What's the alternative?

bluWolf
Are you sure you're not a transgender lesbian with gende r fluidity? You must think about that.
metadat
Please don't do that here.
rob_c
please read that whilst thinking of a black protagonist...

(to paraphrase a recent south-park episode)

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
sys_64738
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.
twohaibei
> Reduce the amount of years you include in work history.

Is this not to suggest my age/avoid ageism, or not distract from the current experience?

lmarcos
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).

soueuls
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.

morelandjs
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.

armchairhacker
Also discrimination might not have even been why you didn't get the job. Maybe they filled the position or decided they just didn't need it, but didn't update on the site. Maybe they thought you weren't a good fit for some other reason. There are 1,000 reasons a job can reject you and with what you posted I wouldn't single it out to "diversity".
twohaibei
The position is there on their website (and job boards) 3 months after my first application, I think its real.
tunap
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.

yuppie_scum
I think putting your photo on your resume is weird in general
drdo
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?

twohaibei
Good question. Now that i think about it, i see no reason to do it. I assumed its standard practice.