MISSING THE POINT

 Stefan Ciecierski - Director and owner Nakama Global

I know it’s risky but I want to talk about discrimination and prejudice, because I am not at all sure that the laws we recruiters work to are doing what they are supposed to. It seems to me that in trying to do something positive the powers that be have achieved very little as people still make the decisions that they do based on personal judgments that remain unaffected by the legislation supposed to safeguard equality.

I write a lot of notes, and this year I have been told by recruiters trying to get around the law, for some reason known only to them, and unprompted that:

“ I’m not racist or anything but I just thought I would let you know his family is of African origin, do you know what I mean”

“ Just in case you were wondering we did talk about families and she is not intending to have any children in the near future”

“He doesn’t look his age and is very energetic”

“He isn’t married and is not the type to be considering that, if you see what I mean”

apart from being quite staggering, all the above are unnecessary misleading, breaking the rules and unhelpful, but are these the statements of the criminal and the morally debased or are they the statements of poor recruiters trying to be helpful and getting it wrong?

It did actually say on the African gentleman’s cv that he had been educated in Africa, but it did not say his nationality, only that he had the right to work in the UK.I could have estimated the age of the lady apparently not planning to have children by looking at the dates she was in education. I could see that the energetic gentleman had been working for more than 40 years and I have no interest in the marriage preferences of the gentleman currently not considering union.

We all know that the low barriers to entry in our sector mean that some fairly unsophisticated people exist within it, but doesn’t our rather ham fisted set of laws on this subject just make things worse?

It seems that on occasion this is just a branch of political correctness with no obvious benefit. Is it much more helpful than those ridiculous “customer service” announcements on the trains that inform us that due to “inclement” weather (what is that?) the platform maybe slippery, or that in hot weather we should stay hydrated, or if you feel unwell tell a member of staff. Surely we are not far away from being advised that if we do not dress appropriately for the conditions the transportation authorities cannot be held responsible if we catch a cold. All these warnings go in one ear and leave the other without any impact on the meager grey matter in between. We are in danger of being de-sensitised to all this stuff.

Who amongst us is not unusual for some reason? Diversity is to be celebrated not hidden. Of course that is over simplistic and of course we must protect the vulnerable and the perceived minority, but what we currently do does not achieve that. According to the statements above some recruiters seem to think that I need to be warned if they send me candidates who are from an ethnic minority (whatever that is), are female of child bearing age (14 to 50?), are older and wiser than most or might not be heterosexual. Thanks but no thanks for the warning as who does that leave me to recruit? And how does the recruiter know that I am not in one or more of those categories? And why is that people that are not in any of those categories are presumed to be great hires.

We have laws to prevent discrimination and they should be enforced, rigorously, but it seems to me that in the UK in 2010 we are paying lip service to stopping discrimination. Those that represent us to the legislators are limp at best, the rags we read pay some attention but it’s not their job. If you read this and agree or disagree please do us all a favor and write, blog, shout from the rooftops or engage your colleagues in conversation as the only way to create the freest and fairest environment is to talk openly about these issues and educate. Avoiding discussion and covering our backsides will only drag us down into the media promoted slush of superficiliality we are too often slaves to. Amen.