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Discrimination in Job Search -
Dealing with Discrimination in Job Search
Most people experience discrimination
Most people who are looking for employment have to overcome prejudices of one sort or another.
Many people are still discriminated against in the workplace because of the color of their skin, the nation of their origin, the language or languages they speak, the religions they practice, their gender, their sexual orientation, and their disability. All of these things still happen, even though they are specifically illegal. I have had the experience of losing out on a job because of my race, my gender, and on another occasion, my religion. Nobody likes it. We shouldn't have to put up with discrimination.
There are other ways we are discriminated against because of people's prejudices, and, they may not be illegal, but it still hurts when we receive any discrimination, and it still costs us the job opportunity. We absolutely must learn how to overcome prejudices and discrimination during the job search process!
Kinds of Discrimination in Job Search
There are many other types of prejudices; here are some of them:
Discrimination in job search occurs in two places: the employers' brain; and the applicant's brain.
Guess which kind of discrimination keeps more people out of more jobs? That's right, their own discrimination or concepts of self-limitation keep them out of more jobs than any employer ever does! Let's say there are 100 employers that hire widget makers in your town. You would like to be a widget maker, and the first two employers you talked to didn't hire you. You are sure that it's because of discrimination, and you give up trying to find a job in that field. The employer kept you out of 2 jobs; you kept yourself out of 98 jobs!
One Example
During one of my recent job clubs, I asked the group what things women do better than men. Immediately, there was a chorus: "communicate", and "communication". I then asked the question,"Do all women communicate better than all men?". The answer was a unanimous "YES!"; and that was in a group of all men! That belief would keep them from applying for any job that would require communication! We can and do discriminate against ourselves.
Here was a group of man that believed that every single woman it in the world communicates better than every single man in the world! "So, a deaf mute woman communicates better than Bill Gates?", I asked. It only took a second or two for them to see how ludicrous their prejudice was.
There are many similar beliefs: Women can't do math. Blind people can't work. We can't hire convicts. Short people cannot work in the fire department. People with mental health issues are dangerous. It takes a college degree to do that job. Most of my clients heard something like that about them and the job they are doing now, but they pushed ahead and got the job!
Summary (So, this is prejudice!)
This is the foundation of all discrimination and prejudice; making a general statement about a group of individuals and applying it to every single person within the group. It can be applied to oneself, not just to others. It NEVER makes sense ever, when you look at it carefully.
Insist on treating yourself as an individual!
Insist on being treated as an individual!
How to overcome my own prejudice against myself
The first step is to be able to recognize our own prejudices. That is not easy to do! However, it is possible; and there are some very clear indications when we have prejudices, whether it is against other people or against ourselves. Here are a few of the most indicative:
Our words. Two kinds of words are in operation when we are looking at ourselves: the words we speak out loud, and the words we use to talk to ourselves in our head. I like to call that, "head talk". Let's look at first the spoken words.
Do you find yourself making excuses for yourself and using words like, " I can't do that", " my XXXXX prevents me from doing that" (replace XXXXX with the word you usually use), or " I'm no good at that"? Don't get me wrong, every person I know has limitations. They are real, they're not imaginary, and no matter how we try, we will never be able to do well in some things. We do need to be able to accept our own limitations. What I am talking about here, are the things that are only half true. Jackie Robinson challenged the truth of his day that he would not be able to play in the major leagues. Millions are glad he challenged what he heard every day.
Spend some time thinking about the words that you hear yourself using to excuse your own feelings of failure, lack of exertion, or even depression. Many times that cause for our lack of trying is that we take a very we'll reason why things are difficult, and turn them into an excuse for not even trying. I know I have done that in several areas in the past. There may even be one are two areas now.
Our actions. Quite similar to the words that we use on ourselves and others, if we find ourselves avoiding certain tasks, assignments, and duties, it could be that we have a poor self image in that area that needs to be challenged. Once again, I am an advocate of using everybody strengths, and avoid making huge demands on someone's weaknesses, and oftentimes what we think we cannot do, we really can, if we try!
In spite of what TV tries to tell us,
Fat people can dance, dance well, and enjoy it a lot!
White guys can jump! How else do some still play professional basketball?
Ugly people can sing well. I don't believe it should be a prerequisite to get on American idol to the young, slender, athletic, and good looking. Do you?
Blind people can and do play baseball.
No race or ethnicity has a monopoly on intelligence, humor and wit, good looks or anything else.
So the big question is, that thing that you have; that thing that you cannot do well; that thing that you avoid doing, do you hold it and use it as an excuse, or a reason?
What about it? Are you ready to stop your own discrimination in job search?
Let's move on to what we can actually do about it.
How to deal with prejudice against us.
Once we have recognized that what we have is an excuse, and not a reason, we need to challenge ourselves every time we try to use it as an excuse. Often, it helps to have somebody else in this with us, and give them permission to challenge us when we say "I can't do it". The better someone knows us, the more likely that they will enthusiastically agree that we need to challenge this thing, and stop using it as an mere excuse! Here are some other things that we can do also:
Decide to challenge your limitations on a regular basis. Put it on the calendar!
Find a way to measure your proficiency growth as you practice. There is nothing like being able to subjectively measure the improvement in how well you do something to encourage additional effort.
Make improvement through competition. Oftentimes, our friends are those who we have carefully chosen who have the same feelings of inadequacies in the same areas, so that we never have to be challenged. One of those probably needs to challenge his own concept of his limitations just like you do, and would make an excellent partner to compete with to see how fast the two of you can improve! Teamwork can be very rewarding.
Let's not rule out professional assistance in helping us deal with our misconceptions. Professional counseling can be very effective in helping us sort out what's true, what's half true, and was completely false. There are many types of counseling, different levels of counseling, and different counseling styles and personalities of counselors. Don't be afraid of trying several until you find one that works well with you.
What about it? Are you ready to stop your own discrimination in job search
As a part of professional counseling, you may consider asking for some tests or assessments. Many clients have felt handicapped based on any diagnoses that may or may not have been accurate at the time it was made. Professional testing can help alleviate the fears and damages done by inaccurate diagnoses. Many professionals believe that there have been waves of fads of diagnosis. During periods of popularity, some diagnose sees such as ADDHD and bipolar disorder have been grossly over applied to people with minimal symptoms. As in other medical practices, it is okay, and often a good idea, to get a second, or even third opinion. Please note: I am NOT advocating making any changes to your medications or doctor's advice on your own; I am advocating that you are entitled to a second opinion, should you desire one.
How to deal with prejudice encountered in job search.
Illegal Discrimination
One always has choices and how we've respond two other people's actions. There are almost always at least several different ways that we can respond, and there can be several of them that are correct. There are many variables and we should consider carefully all of the options than possible consequences and possible benefits of each and every possible action that we can envision.
My personal opinion (and you may disagree with me if you wish) is that if I find an employer who is flagrant in their illegal discriminatory practices, I do not wish to push the issue in order to find employment there for myself or a client. If the employment is that flagrant in his or her discrimination, any employment would very likely be at the least unpleasant. Whenever I have a client who has encountered illegal discrimination, I provide them with the information about how to file a complaint with the appropriate agency, most frequently the Fair Employment And Housing agency. Sometimes it takes a little bit of digging to find out which agency has jurisdiction. I also recommend that the client contact an attorney.
Discrimination Which Is Not Illegal
This is much more likely to be encountered, and is generally much easier to be challenged.
Usually, the best method of dealing with casual prejudices is to bring them out in the open and examine them casually. That may give you some examples that I have actually used during conversations and interviews with employers:
Too young: I realize that the last person that had this job and get it quite well was considerably older, but, if I heard what you are saying about that person, you were most impressed with their ability to use a computer, and their dependability which was easiest seen by the excellent attendance record. We have already discussed my computer skills, and my attendance has been excellent on every job I've ever had, so can you tell me and one of those two areas were my skills are less than your last employee's were?
Too old: I agree, occasionally you find people who are said and airways and are unwilling to learn the new technology, or have gotten used to pudding fourth only half the efforts. I saw us couple of those people on my last job, and, you know what?, They were both half my age! In this job, you will not only be able to take advantage of the computer skills I have learned then applied over the years, my considerable continued enthusiasm and performing job duties, but the wisdom and how to carry out the job duties while maintaining excellent relationships with customers, co-workers, and supervisors that only comes with the wisdom of years of experience. Are you willing to sacrifice wisdom for untried usefulness?
No experience: I know a lot of people put a lot of emphasis on prior experience. I have made the eight mistake myself of hiring somebody just because they had experience. After a short time it became very evident that I would have to hunt each them the bad practices my competitor had instilled in them, before I could began to train them in a way that would produce an excellent product. Personally, I would rather hire somebody completely inexperienced, but who is apt to learn and has a great attitude, then hire someone with a lot of experience that would need to be retrained or that has picked up some bad attitudes from a previous employment experience. Can you give me the name of someone you've talked to who has a better propensity to learn new duties or a better attitude than I do?
Over experienced: "Over experienced?" -now, take out the job description and start reading it carefully. Don't stop until the interviewer asks you what you're doing. Then look up, right in his eyes, and say, "I'm looking for this section in the job description which details Maximum Experience".
I think you can see the pattern that I use to challenge in question assumptions that people have not thought thru for themselves. It does require practice and forethought in order to be able to say the right thing at the right time. Fortunately, for most of us, we tend to run into the same type of prejudicial things. In my case, age would probably come up. I can practice those responses and anticipate them, even if they are not brought up in the interview process.
What about it? Are you ready to stop discrimination in job search? Even from you?