White-collar interviews - gray areas of discrimination?

November 16, 2008

I wanted to pose a question to LPs who have had experience in the

white-collar or corporate sector b/c this has been an issue which I

don't know may or may not be of concern?

I would like to hear your feedback if you have experienced any odd

behavior.. or something that may constitute as " glass ceiling " or

indirect discrimination during a corporation's interviewing process?

For the most part, my past interviews typically go well. But I did

have a couple of experiences which left me in bewilderment.

Most recently, I applied for a job where after sending in my

letter/resume/portfolio, the director wrote back - said my experience

was " relevant " and asked me to immediately come in. During the

interview, I notice that without even really asking about my past and

capabilities - he said that I didn't have the " experience " he was

looking for and he wanted someone who had 10 yrs more than myself. I

was perplexed, given his positive reaction through email and the

information clearly in my resume. Even more odd, that position I was

applying for had a designer who had pretty much my same experience,

age and came from a lower ranked school.

This reminded me of another experience several years ago - where I was

freelancing for another firm and an opening for a designer came up. I

applied for the position and was pretty much a " shoo-in " given that I

had worked for that company and the President for the last 6 months. I

was shocked when the President had asked, " Do you think you'll be able

to walk up the stairs everyday? " To my shock, he ended up hiring one

of my classmates (same exact grad year) who was Avg-sized (of course)

and had not even worked for the company. One of my friends told me it

was between the both of us and - in his opinion, I should've been the

one hired.

Of course, both of these situations had upset me given both were great

opportunities, but then again it's probably not worth it working for

such employers. Is there any advice others would give here to deal

with this situation? I don't even know how to approach this, perhaps -

the only way I can think is to ease any fear or discomfort about my

disability during the interview? [altho. I think any sense of " easing "

would be pointless from discrimination] Have others experienced

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