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Hypocrisy In My Profession

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Sherry

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(I hope this is in the right section)

I am a Recruiter by profession. As you may be aware, my profession has to adhere to all sorts of lovely employment law issues. They have never really been issues for me, because I have always worked to recruit the best person for the job. That makes it easy for me usually to obey the laws without feeling like I am compromising.

Anyway, there are a lot of discussions on a particular recruiting board about different ways to find candidates to contact. MySpace has been used by some recruiters with success. There has been a HUGE backlash against those recruiters because there is a possibility that people on MySpace COULD be discriminated against because you are able to search profiles by sex, age, race. Marriage status, and other statuses. Even if they are not.

Well, a few weeks later, I see this other recruiter, who happens to specialize in “diversity recruiting” that goes into detail on how he utilizes Yahoo Personals to target minorities for his candidate recruiting purposes. This guy is praised.

How is this different?

It’s not of course….you know, good for that guy for being proactive enough to utilize creative sources. But I don’t think that searching for a black candidate is any more pure than searching for a white candidate.

Of course no one mentioned this hypocrisy. I certainly didn't. I am no longer self employed, I am starting a new job later this week, and it is very dangerous to be perceived as racist in this field. However, I am trying to think of a way to say something without putting myself in a really bad light.

Any suggestions? Comments?

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Is it his job is to recruit non-white candidates? Or, is his job "on paper" is to recruit the best candidate, but he knows that he will be judged negatively if white candidates make up more than a certain %?

A Diversity recruiter's job is to recruit diverse candidates...aka non white and/or non male candidates.

I quite admire the resourcefulness of this particular recruiter to find people in general on the internet. What ticks me off is that we are told it is not okay to use the same tools for recruiting if you are not specifically targeting minorities. It doesn't matter to the nansayers if you are truly just searching for the best candidate, regardless of race, sex or whatever. If I were to say 'Sure I use Myspace and Yahoo profiles to recruit" I am lambasted for it, because there is a possibility of discrimination. Because I am not a diversity recruiter.

Edited to add:

I guess I could give you the PC definition: companies with diversity recruiting programs say they are making sure they are recruiting a diverse workforce in terms of ideas...backgrounds...blah, blah...some even go as far though as to use the word multiculturalism.

Sorry, I should have been more specific.

Edited by Sherry
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"Diversity Recruitment" is racism, pure and simple. So you have people actively practicing racism criticizing you for using a tool that can be used (and is used - by them) for racist purposes. That is the situation.

How you deal with it is your choice. Can you live with the situation? Can your silence about this contradiction be taken as agreement or consent? Integrity and honesty are virtues. Would you get in trouble for saying "I use whatever tools are best for finding the most qualified people, I do not make selection based on race like our diversity recruitors do" get you in trouble?

mrocktor

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Actually, I couldn't stand it any more.

This is what I posted:

"After reading Jim's blog (he posted about using Yahoo Personals for recruiting)I think it would be a good idea to consider that as well.

http://www.blogcharm.com/jimstroud/21238/H...rsonals%21.html

He is a clever fellow, that Jim.

Not to be a flip flopper on the subject...but the more I think about this I think a recruiter can be accused of discriminatory no matter where they find a candidate if someone was upset with them enough.

If you can recruit using personals and myspace for ONE purpose why not for all purposes? Just click on all the ethnic groups…boom…there you go…just recruit for the best candidate all the time, every time. Sure, watch your back, cover yourself, be aware of where you get your candidates and how, don’t discriminate, but don’t let powerful sourcing techniques blow by you because you are afraid of what MAY be thought of them.

Maybe it’s the caffeine talking,, I dunno, but …. I don’t think I can be the only person that has been thinking about this. "

Interestingly enough, I have a couple of new invites to personal invitations on that board since I posted that. So I guess I am not alone in thinking that way.

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A Diversity recruiter's job is to recruit diverse candidates...aka non white and/or non male candidates.

Sorry, I don't have much to say on this one right now... but this quote had me laughing out loud. :santa:

Welcome to the forum Sherry.

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