When you’re job hunting rejections are expected. Most of the time you can expect a “thanks but no thanks” email or to be ghosted. It’s rare to be given a reason. However, a woman in Lausanne, Switzerland received a reason why she had been rejected: She’s not male.
This email from a senior recruiter at Interiman, says while they would think about her as a candidate if she had more experience, they really prefer a male candidate.
The Original French:
En fait, par rapport à votre candidature et votre parcours il leur manque une expérience plus confirmée dans un poste (3 à 5 ans) avec le côté AP et AR, étant donné qu’il s’agit d’une équipe de femmes qui sont seniors. Ils pensent qu’un profil masculin ferait du bien à l’équipe, cela n’a rien à voir avec le fait de discriminer les femmes. Bien au contraire, dans l’équipe comptable il ont 12 femmes et la responsable de tout le département comptable & finances qui reporte au directeur financier est aussi une femme. Tout cela les a amené à cette réflexion simplement.
Si vous aviez une expérience plus confirmée, je pense qu’ils auraient pu considérer votre candidature, mais à choisir, s’ils le peuvent, ils seraont contents d’avoir plutôt un profil masculin.
Je me tiens à votre disposition si vous avez des questions.
English Translation (done by a friend of mine, not a professional translator):
In fact, regarding your application and history, there is an absence of experience in a more established position (3 to 5 years) in the area AP and AR. Given the fact they are a team of women who are senior, they think that a male profile would be good for the team. This has nothing to do with discrimination of women. On the contrary, in the accounting team, there are 12 women and the department leader of accounting and finance who reports to the director of finances is also a woman. All this simply contributes to this perspective.
If you had a more established experience, I think they would be able to consider your candidacy, but given the choice, if they could, they would be more happy to have more of a masculine profile.
I remain at your disposal if you have any questions
To keep reading, click here: Job Application Rejection: A Male Candidate Would Be Better
In Spanish speaking neighborhoods in the US, they advertise for females. Signs in windows say “se solicita mesera” or “cajera” (looking for waitress or cashier).
“When it comes down to it, legally and morally, in both the United States and Switzerland, we shouldn’t be considering gender for almost all positions.” Yes, in this day and age, this approach seems obvious. Seems obvious. But apparently it is not obvious to those who still, in 2018, want to impose so many females on boards, so many (name a race) on staff, so many college graduates on staff, so many men and so many women employed, so many this, so many that, so many something else. Yes, it SEEMS obvious, but apparently it’s not.
In the US it wouldn’t be put it in writing like that but a manager will explain the situation face to face with a “that’s just the way it is” explanation. I watched my previous department go from a ratio of 14:1 between male and female managers to no women among about 50 managers. The skew was blamed on women’s propensity for having babies, yet most women who might have been management candidates did not have pregnancy leave in the decade I was there, and none of the women managers left because of it. Not that discrimination for pregnancy is an excuse anyway. But there’s the law and there’s this antiquated idea of “how things really are,” and the second is still winning.
Your comment she’s you didn’t read the article: ” Given the fact they are a team of women who are senior, they think that a male profile would be good for the team. This has nothing to do with discrimination of women. On the contrary, in the accounting team, there are 12 women and the department leader of accounting and finance who reports to the director of finances is also a woman. “
I can’t think of a single case in the last 20 years when a real, deserving victim of discrimination benefited from laws against it. The system has been taken over by believers in “intersectionalism” who game it because they can.
It’s time to make it so they can’t, by repealing the laws.
I’ve read the article several times and don’t see that it is saying they want a male MANAGER for this team. If I missed that, please let me know. It sounds more like the team is all women and they want a ‘male perspective’.
Either way I don’t agree with this practice. I just don’t want to jump to the conclusion that it is saying that females can’t manage if that is not the case here.