If you’re trying to get a job, you know that you shouldn’t face discrimination. Employers are supposed to give the same opportunity to people regardless of their gender, race, religion or age, for example. Workers shouldn’t be discriminated against due to these protected classes.
Unfortunately, you may still experience discrimination. Some employers know they are not supposed to do this, so they simply try to hide it. Here are two ways that they might do so.
Using coded language
One way that this happens is when employers put coded language into their job postings to show what type of applicant they want to hire. Maybe they say they want to hire someone who is a “digital native” or they say they’re looking for a “recent college graduate.” Both of these terms generally just mean that they want to hire young people, likely in their 20s. This could be age discrimination against those who are 40 and older, even though a specific age is never mentioned.
Looking for identifying factors
Another thing that sometimes happens is that employers will look for factors that signify someone’s race – or another protected factor – in their job application. The employer will then discriminate based on race, even if they don’t directly ask the applicant about their background. We know that this happens because some applicants have decided to “whitewash” their resumes, and they’ve received more calls for interviews once their race cannot be determined – or if they appear to be white.
Both of these examples simply show that discrimination still happens, even though it’s illegal. Make sure you know what options you have if it happens to you.
