The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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by Mark Anthony Dyson

The Black Professional Job Search Experience and Why it’s Different

The Black Professional Job Search Experience and Why it’s Different
https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/thevoiceofjobseekers/thevoiceofjobseekers221.mp3

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It is well documented Black names and culture are differentiating factors before the initial resume vetting process companies conduct is completed. More companies and organizations are focusing on diversifying their workforce. In today’s conversation with Jennifer Tardy, we are dissecting what black professionals may have experienced in their job search and how they could best navigate it.

You are more than welcome to join the discussion. Here are three ways you can:

– Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number

– Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message

– Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Those on the mailing list are offered the chance to participate in the Job Lab. If you want to join us on October 24, the last Job Lab for the year, sign up at the blog.

Show flow:
421 Modern Job Search Tips for 2021 (sign up on the blog)
Reminders of the shows I have on LinkedIn (follow my page)
My YouTube channel
About Jennifer Tardy:
Jennifer is a former full-time recruiter, a career coach, and a diversity recruiter trainer. She spends half of her time with one-on-one career coaching and the other half with companies that want her to train on diversity recruiting.
Discussion highlights:
  • Job seekers shouldn’t be concerned about their ethnicity being revealed on their resume.
  • Jennifer says, “Don’t be concerned, be strategic. Being strategic with anything you reveal in your resume goes beyond race and ethnicity. Every single thing you list in your resume should confirm that you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job.”
  • Jennifer says she loves to wear bright colored earrings but will refrain from doing so in an interview because that could be distracting. She wants the interviewer to be focused on her words, not the brightly colored earrings. I have worn colorful color ties with a dark-colored suit. It’s OK to bring yourself to work if it’s not a distraction from your work.
  • Ask questions of the employer to find out how they are creating safe spaces for their Black employees to produce, learn, and grow. If you’re asked a biased question or a question that most would deem offensive, it is best to assume positive intent.
  • Jennifer says when her client makes a comment that is inappropriate or asks an inappropriate question, she remains in control by “meeting people where they are by assuming positive intent. “This allows me to put emotion aside and look to call people in as opposed to calling them out.”

I am updating my free e-book entitled, “421 Modern Job Search Tips for 2021.” I plan to release it to my email list on October 30, before everyone else will be alerted on November 13. Want it early? Go to the blog to sign up.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Job Search, unconscious bias Tagged With: Bias, Hiring, Job Search, Unconscious Bias

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Is Technology Essential in Removing Hiring Bias with Melissa Dobbins

Is Technology Essential in Removing Hiring Bias with Melissa Dobbins
http://traffic.libsyn.com/thevoiceofjobseekers/thevoiceofjobseekers195.mp3

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Removing bias from the hiring process is quite a task considering those who are still asking why. My guest this episode is Melissa Dobbins, founder, and CEO of career.place for the second time. We discuss her article, “ I’m Sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.” – Save us from our Technology!

You are more than welcome to join the discussion. Here are three ways you can:

– Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822, or text your comments to the same number
– Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
– Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com
More about Melissa:
Career.Place’s mission is to remove bias from the hiring process by not relying on the resume as the beginning piece of the hiring equation.

Here are highlights from our discussion:

  • We discuss how technology can remove bias without being affected by humans
  • Bias can be a slight change, but significant in the way AI will help
  • We discuss implementing bias-free technology without bias-free human influence
  • Melissa describes AI role in removing bias
  • Ask the right questions, how can it work for the company

Reminder:

Use my contact information above to inquire about individual or group coaching. Or leave a message anytime on the “send voicemail” button on the side of any page of my blog.
You can also sign up for my weekly newsletter at the top right of my page to be on the early list of my free e-Guide, “219 Modern Job Search Tips for 2019!” If you have already subscribed to the newsletter, it’s in your email box as of this morning!
There are only TWO EPISODES left in this season of the podcast. The last episode of the fall season will be December 11. The winter season will begin on January 15, 2019!

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Diversity and Inclusion Tagged With: Bias, Hiring, Unconscious Bias

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Race Matters in Hiring, No Matter How Nice The Cheshire Cat Grins

Race Matters in Hiring, No Matter How Nice The Cheshire Cat Grins

 

Race Matters in Hiring, No Matter How Nice The Cheshire Cat Grins

Race matters in hiring. Employers hire based on race, age, and religion despite the laws that are meant to prohibit unfairness or discrimination. This Supreme Court debate from 2003 in retrospect, had little affect on the ways that race still matters today to many hiring managers. I read this and say, this is the longest marathon of issues in race relations that affect minorities:

Today, the national policy of nondiscrimination is firmly rooted in the law. In addition, it generally is agreed that equal opportunity has increased dramatically in America, including in employment. Blacks and other people of color now work in virtually every field, and opportunities are increasing at every level.

 

 

Yet significant work remains to be done

Charges alleging race discrimination in employment accounted for 35.5 percent of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) 2005 charge receipts, making race still the most-alleged basis of employment discrimination under Federal law. In addition, several private studies conducted in the early 2000s provide telling evidence that race discrimination in employment persists.

A 2003 study in Milwaukee found that whites with a criminal record received job callbacks at a rate more than three times that of blacks with the same criminal record, and even at a rate higher than blacks without a criminal record.

A 2003 study in California found that temporary agencies preferred white applicants three to one over African American applicants. And, a 2002 study in Boston and Chicago found that résumés of persons with names common among whites were 50 percent more likely to generate a request for an interview than equally impressive résumés of persons with names common among blacks.

Civil Rights Law and Hiring Practices. (2009). Supreme Court Debates, 12(7), 6.

They smile in your face

There are ways that employers can subtly discriminate in other ways, many times under a grin. Sometimes, a “Cheshire grin.”

First, let’s discuss the “Cheshire Cat Grin” that I have received in the past. It is the smile the receptionist offers upon your arrival for an interview. The smile is to put you at ease. The smile that says…”Welcome.”

It says two other things:

  • The person hopes to smile enough to disappear, like the Cheshire Cat from Alice and Wonderland. It’s obvious he or she does not want to be at work.
  • The same smile offered an employer (receptionist, HR manager, gopher) revealed you are different than the way you sound. I have seen this smile given when a woman named “Charlie” with a low “C” voice (she probably sings contralto). More times I have seen the “Cheshire Grin” given when an Asian-American, Latino American, or African-American has a name like, um, uh, “Mark.”
    Oh, you’re Mark! Wow! Okay!

I have a diverse set of clients in the past three years who came to me because their strategies were not working. Out of the changes we made to their resume and interview style, we used two simple strategies to apply for jobs and on his or her resume:

  1. Modify the name on the resume (ex. from “Latoya” to “Lynn,” “Miguel” to “Michael”)
  2. Remove the address and zip (area can determine culture or color)
  3. Remove social, political, or service organizations that traditionally are one race
  4. Any identifiable cultural associations with sports (once remove a client’s college tournament “Sweet 16” appearance)

Shocked? It’s better to get mad and become strategically shrewd.

I wouldn’t mention this if it did not make a difference in my client obtaining more interviews and being hired. Appalled?

Many people are uncomfortable talking about race, but it’s real. Race matters in hiring, no matter how polite, no matter how big the smile, and regardless whether you are “well-spoken.” It’s not as if an Asian-American cheated, or gamed the system. It is taking race out of the decision. That is all.

Perhaps fewer decision makers racially profile today than 1980. It is relevant on all levels of professional positions and ranges throughout retail sales positions. It is unavoidable.

 

Despite what anyone could gather from this post, standing out in the right way is not a bad thing. As scrutiny from Human Resource professionals applies towards age, experience, and education, don’t believe for a moment subtle details that indicate race wouldn’t matter. Many employers would instead hire the employed than the unemployed.

I wish all of us would have the “Cheshire Grin” power and appear/disappear at will. Grin and our race, gender, culture, or accent would sink so it wouldn’t matter.

But race matters, and there’s nothing you or I can do about it.

Feel free to tell me if I’m out of my mind, or that this is a fair assessment. You can also cry uncle or foul in the comment section.

image credit

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Filed Under: Career Tagged With: Careers, Hiring

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