I know that there are going to be people who will say: "Employers can hire whoever they want", but please just hear me out.
Drug tests and background screening are fine. The only part of the screening process that I find complete bullshit is the fact that whether or not you get the job rests in the hands of one person (the hiring manager/ HR Rep). What makes this especially stupid is how that HR rep can decide not to hire candidates, even if they satisfy all of the criteria for the position, just because they don't like something trivial about that candidate (i.e. The color of the candidate's suit, the candidate's shoes, the candidate's hair color) or something much worse, like the discriminatory reasons.
About a month ago my good friend who is of mixed Asian descent (Half Hmong and half German to be precise, but her features look more Hmong than German), applied to a company for the job position of private accountant. She had a graduate degree (masters), her CPA license and 2.5 years of experience so she was more than qualified for the job. However she distinctly remembered that when the HR rep (a white lady) was interviewing her, the HR rep exhibited a lot of microaggressions during the interview. It was a wide array of intrusive behaviors from intentionally squinting her eyes to demanding that my friend tell her where she's "from" during the "Tell Me About Yourself" portion of the interview. My friend was born here in Lima, but the HR rep wasn't buying it and kept asking her what country she was from. When the interview finally ended, literally the morning after it the HR rep emailed my friend, and I quote: "Dear Ms. [name], thank you for taking your time to apply to our company. After taking a second look at your resume, we don't think this role is the best fit for you and we have decided to give other applicants a chance."
Now based on the job's description, my friend was qualified for the job. The bonus notes even said: "Multilingual is a plus", and she is fluent in Hmong, Chinese and English. My friend told me that she had a feeling that HR rep was being racist against her and that was why the HR rep sabotaged her chances of landing that particular job. However, she managed to be hired at a better company that offered higher pay a few weeks later, so she decided not to sue. She just hopes karma will get that lady back.
Keep in mind that here in Peru it is illegal not to hire a job candidate solely based off of the candidate's ethnicity, just like America. Although also just like America, some HR reps are cunning and find loopholes in these laws, which was what this HR rep did to my friend. She refused the job to her just because my friend was Asian, but she most likely told her supervisor something else. I have heard that HR reps in America are similar and will refuse to hire candidates for beyond racist and stupid reasons, such as not hiring black people for not having straight hair (in the woman's case) or for not having it shaved off completely (in the man's case). Or, refusing to hire an applicant just because he or she is in the LGBTQ+ community. It isn't surprising that some people have said that HR reps believe they are demigods, "brilliant" curators of talent and work ethic. Here's a solution I am proposing to this.
We all know that personality tests during the screening process are complete bunk because most of the questions asked are just common sense, such as: "Would you steal from your co-workers? Yes or no." So we should omit these from the hiring process.
I have a suggestion. How about instead of leaving the fate of candidates in the hands of one person, why not interview an applicant with a group of HR reps? That way the majority rule will determine the applicant's status instead of giving all of the power to one person and creating the potential for abuse of that power. I know that some companies do actually do this, but I'm saying that more should.
The image is credited to the Mushroom Fighters Wikia, and thank you for reading MyTake!
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