There was recently an article in the papers about how attractive people were more likely to get jobs than less attractive people and I think that that is a sad statement about our society.
There are so many old sayings about this that they are too many to list. Beauty is only skin deep and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, are just two.
What I cannot understand is why someone would choose outward appearances over skills and ability when it comes to hiring. Are people really that shallow and short-sighted? And what does that about ugly or less attractive people? Is this sexism under a different name?
I was raised to believe that hard work, reliability, being good for your word and other silly notions like that we what made a good person, and by extension, a good employee. However, this does not seem to be the case.
If beauty is the most reliable criteria for success then being less attractive has become a liability and the beginnings of a new diversity category. And similar to the other categories of diversity, beyond one’s control. We cannot control how beautiful we are anymore than we can control our gender or our sexual preferences.
And I cannot understand why we should be judged by these criteria rather than criteria that are related directly to our ability to do a job and do it well.
There are already too many areas of diversity that separate groups of people from the main. Adding another category simply moves us in the wrong direction which is away from a more unified society where potential employees are judged from their abilities and nothing else.
I found a quote by the playwright Henrik Ibsen on the internet. It says:” A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.” It is sad to think that someone as clever as Ibsen would be dismissed as naive in today’s working world. I checked his picture and he wasn’t that attractive.
E. Ward
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Why don’t women get paid the same as men?
I am suspicious of the gender pay gap. I suspect that there is some key information missing from the story.
If you have a woman cleaning your house or a man, do you pay them differently? I don’t. From my perspective, all that matters is that the house is cleaned. Who cleans it; the colour of their skin; the religion they observe; their sexual preference and so on, mean absolutely nothing. And frankly the same is true of office workers.
However, in the corporate world, there are other criteria that are factored into the pay formula. The number of hours worked; experience; time off for maternity and other leave; education; non-educational skills and more.
Female workers generally work less hours because they tend to be the primary home makers and child carers. This factor must be kept in mind when interpreting the wage ratio. And whether we like it or not, men are often freer to pursue their career goals unhindered by family obligations if they so choose.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t exceptions.
In 2009 David R. Hekman, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and colleagues found that customers prefer white men over equally-well performing women and minority employees, which may help explain why white men continue to earn more than other types of employees.
Similarly, economist and social critic Thomas Sowell stated in the book, Civil Rights, marriage is the main variable driving the wage gap -- that married women make less than other types of workers.
Any disparity that exists between the wages earned by men and women can be accounted for by women's demand for flexibility, fewer hours, and less travel in their careers.
The truth is that the gender wage gap is a by-product of professional women who want it all. They have good educations and professional experience. However, they have other priorities besides making money. They want job flexibility and personal-life fulfilment more than men do. Men are more likely to measure their self worth based on money and their pay cheques. They are willing to spend more hours in the office and they are willing to do many physically demanding jobs that most women would never consider.
There will always be exceptions to the informal rules because there are always people who have different motivations. But the bottom line is that most people – men and women – fit into the traditional categories.
However, the women’s movement has made a place for itself in western society by never being satisfied. What opportunities don’t women have in the Western world? They can go to medical school, they can dig ditches, they can become police officers, they can stay at home. They can work full or part-time. But each choice they make comes with a financial price tag. Each decision has rewards and consequences. The wonderful thing about our society, is that each person can choose to work – and get paid -- according to their priorities. I suspect that individual freedom of choice in the western world has never been higher.
Kathy MacKeigan
Newcastle
If you have a woman cleaning your house or a man, do you pay them differently? I don’t. From my perspective, all that matters is that the house is cleaned. Who cleans it; the colour of their skin; the religion they observe; their sexual preference and so on, mean absolutely nothing. And frankly the same is true of office workers.
However, in the corporate world, there are other criteria that are factored into the pay formula. The number of hours worked; experience; time off for maternity and other leave; education; non-educational skills and more.
Female workers generally work less hours because they tend to be the primary home makers and child carers. This factor must be kept in mind when interpreting the wage ratio. And whether we like it or not, men are often freer to pursue their career goals unhindered by family obligations if they so choose.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t exceptions.
In 2009 David R. Hekman, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, and colleagues found that customers prefer white men over equally-well performing women and minority employees, which may help explain why white men continue to earn more than other types of employees.
Similarly, economist and social critic Thomas Sowell stated in the book, Civil Rights, marriage is the main variable driving the wage gap -- that married women make less than other types of workers.
Any disparity that exists between the wages earned by men and women can be accounted for by women's demand for flexibility, fewer hours, and less travel in their careers.
The truth is that the gender wage gap is a by-product of professional women who want it all. They have good educations and professional experience. However, they have other priorities besides making money. They want job flexibility and personal-life fulfilment more than men do. Men are more likely to measure their self worth based on money and their pay cheques. They are willing to spend more hours in the office and they are willing to do many physically demanding jobs that most women would never consider.
There will always be exceptions to the informal rules because there are always people who have different motivations. But the bottom line is that most people – men and women – fit into the traditional categories.
However, the women’s movement has made a place for itself in western society by never being satisfied. What opportunities don’t women have in the Western world? They can go to medical school, they can dig ditches, they can become police officers, they can stay at home. They can work full or part-time. But each choice they make comes with a financial price tag. Each decision has rewards and consequences. The wonderful thing about our society, is that each person can choose to work – and get paid -- according to their priorities. I suspect that individual freedom of choice in the western world has never been higher.
Kathy MacKeigan
Newcastle
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
What is the point of a diversity job board?
For immediate release
4 August 2010
(4 August 2010, London) -- I recently received a call from a potential advertiser who asked me: "What is the purpose of a diversity job board?" While I thought I knew the answer instinctively, I realized it deserved further consideration.
MyDiversity.com is a niche board. When it comes to job boards, volume isn't everything. Often a niche online board is much more cost effective and targeted than a larger, generalist board.
MyDiversity.com attracts a substantially higher concentration of qualified diversity job seekers than generalist job boards because it allows potential candidates to address their primary concern – competing for jobs where they believe they have a fair chance of being hired and accepted regardless of their sexual preference, age, religion, race, disability and gender.
I once heard the story of a woman seeking a job in her area of expertise. During the interview process she obligingly explained that she had to leave early on Fridays. The interviewers would nod and complete the interview. But not once did the woman hear back for anyone who had interviewed her.
It didn’t take her long to realize that there was no benefit in being honest and when she went to her next interview, she never mentioned the matter. It was only after she was hired for that job that she told her new employer that she had to leave early on Fridays. He was understandably upset and asked her why she hadn't mentioned this during the interview process?
“People don’t want to feel they have to hide who they are in order to get a job,” says Lisa Greenwald of MyDiversity.com. “Their qualifications and personality should speak for themselves.”
There are approximately 40,000 job boards on the Internet, yet many employers are only familiar with the big sites that do the most advertising. Although these sites have many merits, they are frequently not the most cost-effective.
Many employers are not aware of lower-cost alternatives such as niche boards. These niche boards tend to address a specific need in the market—in this case, diversity. And what advertisers presume to offer the best value may, in fact, not be the case.
In 2000 the EU introduced new directives explicitly protecting people from what have now become the key diversity groups – sexual preference, religion, and age, as well as updating the protection against disability, race and gender discrimination. It has not been an easy transition during the past 10 years. Between the EU passing directives, and the UK government implementing them, there have been many incidents where the government has failed to provide the required minimum level of protection.
As a result, in 2008 Harriet Harman first announced the plans for what would become The Equality Bill. The bill received Royal Assent this past April and is due to come into force in October 2010.
Everyone wants to work in an environment in which they feel like a valued contributor. As of 2000, human rights law has been incorporated into general UK employment law and applies to all employers. However, for those experiencing difficulty securing employment because they belong to a diverse population subgroups, the challenges remain.
As Lesley Price, Service Delivery Director at Equal Approach, MyDiversity’s newest partner, says, “Our whole ethos as a recruitment provider is to promote diversity and equality in the workplace, so we were looking for a job site which would support that. MyDiversity.com gives us access to the widest range of candidates and promoting our vacancies with them helps us to secure our reputation as a leader in diversity recruitment.”
That’s a worthy purpose.
MyDiversity.com is committed to attracting the best people for each and every employment opportunity in the UK through its full-service job-board. Increasing diversity in the labour market is now a business priority, which makes operational and financial sense. With MyDiversity.com, tomorrow's workforce is only a click away.
- 30 -
4 August 2010
(4 August 2010, London) -- I recently received a call from a potential advertiser who asked me: "What is the purpose of a diversity job board?" While I thought I knew the answer instinctively, I realized it deserved further consideration.
MyDiversity.com is a niche board. When it comes to job boards, volume isn't everything. Often a niche online board is much more cost effective and targeted than a larger, generalist board.
MyDiversity.com attracts a substantially higher concentration of qualified diversity job seekers than generalist job boards because it allows potential candidates to address their primary concern – competing for jobs where they believe they have a fair chance of being hired and accepted regardless of their sexual preference, age, religion, race, disability and gender.
I once heard the story of a woman seeking a job in her area of expertise. During the interview process she obligingly explained that she had to leave early on Fridays. The interviewers would nod and complete the interview. But not once did the woman hear back for anyone who had interviewed her.
It didn’t take her long to realize that there was no benefit in being honest and when she went to her next interview, she never mentioned the matter. It was only after she was hired for that job that she told her new employer that she had to leave early on Fridays. He was understandably upset and asked her why she hadn't mentioned this during the interview process?
“People don’t want to feel they have to hide who they are in order to get a job,” says Lisa Greenwald of MyDiversity.com. “Their qualifications and personality should speak for themselves.”
There are approximately 40,000 job boards on the Internet, yet many employers are only familiar with the big sites that do the most advertising. Although these sites have many merits, they are frequently not the most cost-effective.
Many employers are not aware of lower-cost alternatives such as niche boards. These niche boards tend to address a specific need in the market—in this case, diversity. And what advertisers presume to offer the best value may, in fact, not be the case.
In 2000 the EU introduced new directives explicitly protecting people from what have now become the key diversity groups – sexual preference, religion, and age, as well as updating the protection against disability, race and gender discrimination. It has not been an easy transition during the past 10 years. Between the EU passing directives, and the UK government implementing them, there have been many incidents where the government has failed to provide the required minimum level of protection.
As a result, in 2008 Harriet Harman first announced the plans for what would become The Equality Bill. The bill received Royal Assent this past April and is due to come into force in October 2010.
Everyone wants to work in an environment in which they feel like a valued contributor. As of 2000, human rights law has been incorporated into general UK employment law and applies to all employers. However, for those experiencing difficulty securing employment because they belong to a diverse population subgroups, the challenges remain.
As Lesley Price, Service Delivery Director at Equal Approach, MyDiversity’s newest partner, says, “Our whole ethos as a recruitment provider is to promote diversity and equality in the workplace, so we were looking for a job site which would support that. MyDiversity.com gives us access to the widest range of candidates and promoting our vacancies with them helps us to secure our reputation as a leader in diversity recruitment.”
That’s a worthy purpose.
MyDiversity.com is committed to attracting the best people for each and every employment opportunity in the UK through its full-service job-board. Increasing diversity in the labour market is now a business priority, which makes operational and financial sense. With MyDiversity.com, tomorrow's workforce is only a click away.
- 30 -
Monday, August 2, 2010
Welcoming Equal Approach to MyDiversity.com
Equal Approach, a leader in Diversity recruitment, has teamed up with MyDiversity.com to promote career opportunities to a diverse range of candidates.
Equal Approach, which recognises the abilities of a diverse workforce, and focuses on pure skills and experience in the recruitment of the highest skilled individuals, chose MyDiversity.com as it provides access to thousands of candidates across the six diversity strands. The website only features jobs advertised by employers who promote diversity in the workplace, so that jobseekers know they will be searching in a diversity-supported environment where they will be welcomed unconditionally.
Lesley Price, Service Delivery Director at Equal Approach says, “Our whole ethos as a recruitment provider is to promote diversity and equality in the workplace, so we were looking for a job site which would support that. MyDiversity.com gives us access to the widest range of candidates and promoting our vacancies with them helps us to secure our reputation as a leader in diversity recruitment.”
Equal Approach is looking forward to working with candidates who apply through MyDiversity.com and supporting them and their potential employers throughout the application process and beyond. For further details of Equal Approach visit www.equalapproach.com
Equal Approach, which recognises the abilities of a diverse workforce, and focuses on pure skills and experience in the recruitment of the highest skilled individuals, chose MyDiversity.com as it provides access to thousands of candidates across the six diversity strands. The website only features jobs advertised by employers who promote diversity in the workplace, so that jobseekers know they will be searching in a diversity-supported environment where they will be welcomed unconditionally.
Lesley Price, Service Delivery Director at Equal Approach says, “Our whole ethos as a recruitment provider is to promote diversity and equality in the workplace, so we were looking for a job site which would support that. MyDiversity.com gives us access to the widest range of candidates and promoting our vacancies with them helps us to secure our reputation as a leader in diversity recruitment.”
Equal Approach is looking forward to working with candidates who apply through MyDiversity.com and supporting them and their potential employers throughout the application process and beyond. For further details of Equal Approach visit www.equalapproach.com