Question for visible minorities: What do you think when someone says "we are looking for someone who fits more with.... (applying, teenager)

[beenhereandthere]

what we are looking for in our company...
and the place is an all white place?

I've heard this enough times in my life where it makes me wonder. Too often, especially in smaller companies, employers and those in charge of hiring, want people that they can not only work with, but relate to and sadly (even though it may not be most of the time) it's easier to relate to someone who looks and acts like you.
Maybe whites have seen this when they've applied for jobs in all black or latino places, however, for everytime this happens, there's IMO 5 to 10 times more that it's the other way around.

[Charles]

Unlikely it's discrimination, of course there's always 2%.

Companies 1) Don't want to risk a lawsuit and 2) Are monitored for numbers of minorities (especially those companies with government contracts - affirmative action.)

It's in most companies' best interest to hire minorities.


Finally, I've heard this dozens of times myself from hiring managers which are the same ethnicity.

You know what it means when they say "we are looking for someone who fits more with what we are looking for in our company"?
It means "we are looking for someone who fits more with what we are looking for in our company".

[LibertysFate]

I've never had the problem and I'm Asian-American.
Oddly enough I feel I'm being judge more when applying for jobs in an area that is mostly populated with minorities. It's usually because I don't speak the right languages for them.

But I have started to feel that way since I moved to another state where most people here seem to be blond haired with blue eyes.

What I think when I'm told that is one of two things: 1) I don't have enough or the right experience for them, or 2) I don't have the right look and/or attitude for them. By look I mean the way I dress and hold myself. I'm crawling close to 30 but I get mistaken for being 18 a lot. It doesn't help that I sound like I'm about 16. Not in the way I speak but my actual voice. I never thought it was a problem until I temped as a telemarketer. Needless to say I didn't last more than a couple of days because people were calling in to make sure they weren't being crank called by a teenager.

[beenhereandthere]

Originally Posted by LibertysFate

I've never had the problem and I'm Asian-American.
Oddly enough I feel I'm being judge more when applying for jobs in an area that is mostly populated with minorities. It's usually because I don't speak the right languages for them.
But I have started to feel that way since I moved to another state where most people here seem to be blond haired with blue eyes.

What I think when I'm told that is one of two things: 1) I don't have enough or the right experience for them, or 2) I don't have the right look and/or attitude for them. By look I mean the way I dress and hold myself. I'm crawling close to 30 but I get mistaken for being 18 a lot. It doesn't help that I sound like I'm about 16. Not in the way I speak but my actual voice. I never thought it was a problem until I temped as a telemarketer. Needless to say I didn't last more than a couple of days because people were calling in to make sure they weren't being crank called by a teenager.

I don't quite understand the bolded part?

[beenhereandthere]

IMO, if someone who's hiring in an all white place (primarily, in the US there are a LOT more all white places than all minority work places) says that, "we're looking for someone who fits in more with our company culture", I would think they would be smart to really clarify that, instead of leaving it there.

[GypsySoul22]

I'm as white as they come, have a lot of experience and education and can't get a job here in VT (where the population is about 98% white).

Is it because I am not a 'native' of this state? Do they not like ex-New Yorkers (a big bias in many states)?

You can drive yourself crazy with 'what ifs.'

You'll get the job you are supposed to get. Don't bring your race into it. (I don't mean this in a rude way).

[YaFace]

Originally Posted by beenhereandthere

(primarily, in the US there are a LOT more all white places than all minority work places)

You must not live in NE Ohio.

[hnsq]

Companies are in it to make money, and as tough as that is to do right now it is pretty arrogant to think you are turned down because of race. If you didn't get the job, it is because the company didn't think you are qualified enough. Companies are not going to turn down qualified applicants and risk giong out of business because of race.

for 99% of us, racism simply isn't an issue any more in this day and age. Of course threads like this do nothing but promote racism...

[Charles]

Originally Posted by hnsq

Companies are in it to make money, and as tough as that is to do right now it is pretty arrogant to think you are turned down because of race. If you didn't get the job, it is because the company didn't think you are qualified enough. Companies are not going to turn down qualified applicants and risk giong out of business because of race.

for 99% of us, racism simply isn't an issue any more in this day and age. Of course threads like this do nothing but promote racism...

Similar argument for the myth of "women make 68% of men". This is true if you throw all wages into the same pot but it isn't true when you make apples to apples comparisons such as 10 years, electrical engineering experience with a BS in engineering. Also, if women truly do make less, then a company would be foolish to hire higher paid men when women would work cheaper.

[zz4guy]

Descrimination is a fact of life. Get used to it. The gobernment cannot and will not stop it.

There are plenty of mexican, asian and black shop owners who obviously descriminate in their hiring process; it's not just white people