Adam said:What are these all about? I have recieved a couple of these forms following job applications, most state they are optional and bear no influence on the success of the application. Whats the point then?
Visage said:Its generally so that HR departments can ensure they're giving themselves every possible oppurtunity to recruit the best people for the job.
To give you an example - if a company is based in an area with a high number of asian residents, but the proportion of asian candidates amongst those who apply for jobs is very low, then the company would probably want to know about this, since there may be some underlying reasons why asians do not wish to work for the company. This , in turn, may mean that they may be missing out on good candidates, thus putting them at a disadvantage.
Knowing your market is just as important in recruitment as it is in commerce.
Nothing to do with PC at all - its simply good business practice.
Van_Dammesque said:Why? Positive discrimination is discrimination and it is PC BS.
Having the ability to pick from the cream of the crop and not having (by law) to fullfil an ethnic quota is bad business practice because you can not assemble the best work force (which isn't dependent on skin colour, just people's abilities.) Instead you have to fill a percentage which people who are there for their skin colour and not abilities. (e.g. An asian has been given the job but Jonny whiteman had better qualifications but he has white skin so can't be employed )
if a company is based in an area with a high number of asian residents, but the proportion of asian candidates amongst those who apply for jobs is very low, then the company would probably want to know about this, since there may be some underlying reasons why asians do not wish to work for the company. This , in turn, may mean that they may be missing out on good candidates, thus putting them at a disadvantage.
Van_Dammesque said:So again why do they do it then? If it is not being used then it is a waste of resources and therefore bad business practice. Or it is being used, like the OP said some are optional not all.
Surely the company; if short of good candidates, will continue to advertise the position until the right candiate is employed, what has that got to do with the colour of the interviewee's skin?
Adam said:Politics aside, is this something you would normally return? Afterall there is no way they know who has and hasn't returned the application as it is anonymous.
If it is a cultural effect then it is the candidates individual fault not the company.Visage said:But what if the best candidate doesnt apply for the job, due to some unknown cultural effect, for example?
Can you see how companies would want to know that they may be missing out on a given group of potential candidates as a result of something like that?
Van_Dammesque said:If it is a cultural effect then it is the candidates individual fault not the company.
Anyhow, how does ticking an ethnicity box on an application form show correlation with cultural (or other) reasons though? Does the company go out and selectively advertise to the ethnic group? If so then again this is positive dicrimination otherwise the "normal" (ethnic-transparent) advertisment campaign would continue.
Van_Dammesque said:So the company may then go out of their way to specifically advertise or campaign to an ethnic group, is that not positive discrimination? Why not advertise to all i.e. a carpet blanking advertising campaign? Why not advertise for good workers rather than good workers plus a certain skin colour? This would be the case if the company claims not to be discriminating?
No, but:Visage said:If a company advertises in, say the Pink Times as well as their usual outlets, is that discriminating?
What they would do would depend on the strength of the correlation, and suggestions as to its underlying cause. It may well be that the company decides that any action to correct the bias would be more harmful than leaving it in place.
Why do you need a certain quota of ethnicity or sexual preference at the interview stage? What if the correlations turned out to be deteremental to that group? e.g. Asains apply then they are no good, so the company then advertises to other groups because they think the being asian is a correlation with not being a suitable candidate?being under-represented in their interview candidates.