atw: Re: CV and interview advice

Watch for criteria that mention "Must be a team player / member / good with
customers / enthusiastic" or similar.
This technique was being used in the public service years back, and probably
still is, as a way to get around the strict 'must select on the
specified (and objective) criteria' approach.
It was used to avoid someone who had excellent technical skills but was
expected to be a total mismatch with the current team.

AGE
Many people simply don't put their age in their resumes these days.
Teenagers do, but age is often relevant in that situation.  For example, I
think that check-out operators must at least 18 years old to sell alcohol.

JOKE
Reminds me of a Ronnie Barker sketch where he explains the new
anti-discrimination laws and how they apply to job adverts.
"An advert like - Barmaid wanted for West Country pub, must have big tits -
is obviously not appropriate (said with a straight face)."
"This advert could be re-written as - Barmaid wanted, must be big, in the
Bristol area."

Bob T


On 10/31/07, Stuart Burnfield <slb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Janice said:
> > As you can imagine, in the US this would get the company sued
> > faster than you can blink. Don't know what the rules are here
> > but that seems really inappropriate for an HR person to say.
>
> You could interpret this as "You come from the wrong culture and we
> don't hire your sort," but I doubt it was meant that way.
>
> They could have meant, "You're old and the rest of the team is
> uncomfortable around old people." This probably is actionable, but hard
> to prove.
>
> It could be that they meant just what they said. They like to think they
> have a particular culture and they believe Peter's personality wouldn't
> fit in with it. I think employers are allowed to do this? E.g. if they'd
> assembled a team of grinning enthusiastic types who were expected to
> hang out on blogs and mailing lists and evangelise at trade shows, and
> the applicant spent the entire interview whispering glumly at his
> shoelaces.
>
> It's common to see a lot of waffle in job ads (you know--enthusiastic,
> driven, goal-oriented, well-rounded, high-achieving team-players with a
> great sense of humour). To this extent I guess an interviewer can look
> for 'cultural fit', as long as the culture isn't based around
> hard-drinking misogynists or similar.
>
> Stuart


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