Grasshopper
Senior Jockey
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2006
- Messages
- 16,012
A bit of context first, AC, as I think it’s relevant.
I’ve spent most of my career working in IT in the Financial Sector, with sojourns working for an IT manufacturer (Cisco), and Pearson in the Education/Publishing Sector - the first 20 years as a permanent employee of a (once) major UK bank, and the rest as a freelancer/contractor.
My experience has therefore been almost exclusively in highly-regulated environments, and/or with major enterprises of 20,000+ employees.
These types of organisation take any form of discrimination very seriously, and tend to have mandatory training courses covering this topic. There are also specific protocols to be observed, whenever you are conducting an interview.
I conducted (or participated in) many interviews over the years for candidates on Projects and Programmes I have run; for both technical and non-technical roles. In every case - and I mean every case - it is the competence of the individual which has counted. Nothing else has mattered. Peers of mine had/have exactly the same hiring policy, and have done for years.
After going freelancing almost 15 years ago, I have largely been fortunate enough to have been hired by word-of-mouth, however, I have interviewed for jobs in the South East, and been offered roles that for personal reasons, I chose not to accept (usually because I got a better offer in parallel). I have never experienced the kind of thing that DO appears to have gone through, simply because of my accent.....which is more Gordon Strachan than Gordon Brown.
Perhaps my experience is due to the nature of the dodge I am in? As I said, competence is the only real qualifier, and over-rides every other consideration.
To offer a contemporary example, I currently have one Scottish Muslim, one English Muslim, two Indians, one black African, one Saudi, one Italian, one Mancunian, and two token Glaswegians reporting to me.
And what a happy camp we are.
FWIW, when I started-out in the mid-80’s, there was the merest hint of “We don’t hire Catholics” attitude, and you would hear that some ‘old dodgers’ were members of the craft or their local Orange Lodge. However, I would say that it had completely dissipated by the time we were getting into character for the 90’s.
Maybe it is specific to the industries I have worked in, but anyone promoting the notion that certain creeds, colours, races or religious groups should be excluded from jobs, would at best be laughed at and humiliated, almost certainly reported by someone, and almost inevitably dismissed, were sufficient evidence of such malpractice presented.
Hope this helps.
PS. I can generally spot an Irish surname easily enough, but I wouldn’t really know what an Irish-Catholic surname was, let alone a very-Irish-Catholic surname. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
PPS. This would be better-off in the Lounge, I reckon.
I’ve spent most of my career working in IT in the Financial Sector, with sojourns working for an IT manufacturer (Cisco), and Pearson in the Education/Publishing Sector - the first 20 years as a permanent employee of a (once) major UK bank, and the rest as a freelancer/contractor.
My experience has therefore been almost exclusively in highly-regulated environments, and/or with major enterprises of 20,000+ employees.
These types of organisation take any form of discrimination very seriously, and tend to have mandatory training courses covering this topic. There are also specific protocols to be observed, whenever you are conducting an interview.
I conducted (or participated in) many interviews over the years for candidates on Projects and Programmes I have run; for both technical and non-technical roles. In every case - and I mean every case - it is the competence of the individual which has counted. Nothing else has mattered. Peers of mine had/have exactly the same hiring policy, and have done for years.
After going freelancing almost 15 years ago, I have largely been fortunate enough to have been hired by word-of-mouth, however, I have interviewed for jobs in the South East, and been offered roles that for personal reasons, I chose not to accept (usually because I got a better offer in parallel). I have never experienced the kind of thing that DO appears to have gone through, simply because of my accent.....which is more Gordon Strachan than Gordon Brown.
Perhaps my experience is due to the nature of the dodge I am in? As I said, competence is the only real qualifier, and over-rides every other consideration.
To offer a contemporary example, I currently have one Scottish Muslim, one English Muslim, two Indians, one black African, one Saudi, one Italian, one Mancunian, and two token Glaswegians reporting to me.
And what a happy camp we are.
FWIW, when I started-out in the mid-80’s, there was the merest hint of “We don’t hire Catholics” attitude, and you would hear that some ‘old dodgers’ were members of the craft or their local Orange Lodge. However, I would say that it had completely dissipated by the time we were getting into character for the 90’s.
Maybe it is specific to the industries I have worked in, but anyone promoting the notion that certain creeds, colours, races or religious groups should be excluded from jobs, would at best be laughed at and humiliated, almost certainly reported by someone, and almost inevitably dismissed, were sufficient evidence of such malpractice presented.
Hope this helps.
PS. I can generally spot an Irish surname easily enough, but I wouldn’t really know what an Irish-Catholic surname was, let alone a very-Irish-Catholic surname. Ignorance is sometimes bliss.
PPS. This would be better-off in the Lounge, I reckon.
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