this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
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I brought this up a few years ago where I work. I want to have a team sanitize the applications before the hiring team gets to see them. Remove names, dates that can be used to construe an age, gender, etc. I hope this study helps me get my point across at next years EEO training.
Once I started having to deal with incoming applications, I quickly realized it's impossible not to be influenced by the info you see. There are specific names that are culturally connoted with being stupid and are used in many jokes. A female name will get special consideration, because I work in a male dominated field and we try to improve the balance. But I hate all that. I want to work with the best colleagues I can get, that's my sole motivation. So their hard and soft skills matter, but I don't care about their private life. Sure, how you spend your private time can give indications on your character, but I quickly found I'm loaded with prejudices, and they have been plain wrong more often than not.
Our company sadly doesn't sanitize applications by default, but I insist on it for the resumes I have to assess, and I managed to convince a couple other team leads as well. Maybe it'll spread. I let them remove any personal info. Names, age, gender, photos, addresses... Luckily it has become uncommon to include hobbies or family info, so that rarely is in there in the first place, otherwise remove it as well. I'm hiring you to do a job, it's not a sympathy or friendship application.
And the written application is only the very first selection step any way. If your credentials are sufficient and you manage to avoid egregious typos and lexical mistakes, you'll have to deal with the interview process anyway. That's where I'll see how you present yourself in person and how you communicate, which are important soft skills in my industry.
I had the privately most introverted antisocial folks end up being very attentive and professional at client interactions, and extroverted "volunteer-for-everything" folks being arrogant and selfish at teamwork.
Hobbies and other information are also used in discriminating people, you also should ask to remove that.
I don't think I have ever read a hobby section of a resume.
When I interview I come up with a list of technical questions about the job. If they get about +70% I recommend them else I don't.
We have rubrics. Like if we're asking for an AA degree, but a BS preferred, you'll get tossed out if you don't have an AA, you'll get 1 point for an AA, and 2 points for a BS. But you'll also get a 2 for a MA or DR.
It gets weird when it's education and or maybe experience somewhere in the field.... some people who write our job descriptions don't think things through....
While I applaud your efforts and agree with the cause, blind resumes have been studied several times and always lead to hiring fewer minorities. Since most companies now have diversity targets, they are unlikely to implement anything which will negative affect that.
I am sure nothing will go wrong with hiring people based on race instead of merit.
Unfortunately racism is baked into university admission and corporate hiring practises now. Advocates like Ibram Kendi argue that modern day racism is required to address historical racism. The large majority of us in the middle, between the two racist extremes, disagree.