TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
At a previous employer, the tech pubs mgr (a lady) hired ONLY women for
the department of about a 15 or 16 writers, illustrators and formatters.
A token male showed up once in awhile for "show", but inevitably, it was
a woman who got the job. There was no (sexual) hanky-panky, but no men
were going to be hired in. And management simply either never noticed or
didn't care. (Fairly large company with offices worldwide.)
To my knowledge, almost everybody in the department was "straight" and
the one who wasn't was NOT the mgr. All were good folks. Some of the
women themselves complained about the department becoming nothing more
than a "hens nest", and there were many cat-fights. Cripe, sometimes you
could almost cut the air, it was so chilled by all the stress.
The fax machine was in a public area accessible by all employees and I
regularly saw the incoming fax-resumes from the chosen placement firm
and virtually all were women candidates. I asked someone about this once
(on the q-t, of course) and was told that hardly any men applied.
Sure.
The 5 guys in the department (including me) were hired before the tech
pubs mgr herself was hired. I was there a total of 12 years and saw lots
of ups and downs.
Other than her (to me) obvious favoritism, she was a very good manager
and professional in tech pubs skills. But she was not about to hire in a
guy.
And it got to be uncomfortable. It got to the point that various others
in the company jokingly pulled me or any of the other guys aside during
meetings and asked when we were getting our own skirts and dresses.
When she left, the ethics and professionalism by the new incoming mgr
was down around pond-scum. Another topic for another day.
-- Kenpo
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Suzette Leeming
Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 1:26 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: FWD: Hiring Discrimination
Playing devil's advocate...
So, if I ask to only see resumes from white males (since that's my
preference), but once they are in front of me I treat them all equally,
I'd be okay?
On 9/26/06, John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> I don't think she has. Discrimination is the act of discriminating.
> There's no law against thinking or preferences, only the act of
> performing it. As long as once a resume was in her hands he treated it
> equally with the others, what law has she broken?
>
> --- Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > > Actualy, I don't see that as discrimination. What has she done
> > wrong?
> > > She has a preference. She can prefer anyhthing she wants. She can
> > > even proactively recruit what she prefers. However, as long as
> > she
> > > treats all resumes eqaualy when they are infront of her, she's
> > done
> > > nothing wrong.
> >
> > Your reasoning sounds logical but in fact it is wrong. The manager
> > who said that, and the company they work for, could be sued for such
> > a statement, as it violates sex discrimination laws.
__________________________
This e-mail message and any attachment contains private
and confidential information and is intended for the addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient (or responsible
for delivery of the message to such person), please do not read, copy, use or disclose this communication to others.
If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by replying to this message, and then delete it from your system. Thank you.
____________________
Polysius Corp.
Atlanta, Ga. USA http://www.PolysiusUSA.com
Voice: 770-850-2000
Main Fax: 770-955-8789
WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word features support for every major Help
format plus PDF, HTML and more. Flexible, precise, and efficient content
delivery. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
Easily create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to any popular Help file format or printed documentation. Learn more at http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-
