The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 3 (of 5)

Wrong industry

After giving an interview, I was told that they were looking for people with a specific industry background.
I was just curious why they called me to the interview, if they knew I did not have the background from my resume?

Anon
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Sorry. My ability to read people's minds isn't working so well today.

Alyosha`
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Because you were their Plan B. When they found someone better, they made up an excuse to avoid hurting your feelings.

Joel Spolsky
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Incidentally, if Joel's right, be thankful they did it that way. I was told once at the end of an interview "we like you, but we still have to interview someone else; we'll be in touch"

Now *that* really bunches up your intestines.

Philo

Philo
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Dear anon,.
I was once told they had decided to hire somebody else because he would feel uncomfortable having somebody older working under him. Pity he hadn't extrapolated the date of birth from my resume before calling me for interiview.

What Joe says is probably right, but another possibility is that somebody else arranged the interview. The guy doing the interview can't refuse to interview you but would never have called you in the first place if he waa the one making the shortilist.

Stephen Jones
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Philo, did you get a call back? I've been told a couple tims "well, we'll possibly be in touch, but we have to see what else is out there", only to get a call back 2 weeks later. I think its because a lot of the business types really think there are hundreds of people out there who have 15 years of J2EE, like it says on their resume...

vince
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Anon, they might be intending to bring in someone cheaper on a visa, and they just want a record of having interviewed some locals who "didn't satisfy the requirements" in case anyone asks questions later on.

Inspector Clouseau
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Stephen: Was this in the U.S.? If so, then that hiring decision is blatantly illegal.

Firebug
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Stephen Jones works in the Eastern Hemisphere, so that probably wasn't in the US.

Some countries permit blatant age, gender, and even height discrimination. I've seen ads that list those types of requirements even where they have little or no relevance for the type of job.

T. Norman
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Firms should be able to hire whoever they damn well please.

Bella
Wednesday, December 31, 2003

Is Jeffrey Dahlmer available then?

cannibal fan
Thursday, January 1, 2004

The interview was in the UK for a job in Spain. As the guy didn't pay expenses for the interview I was a little annoyed, but you can hardly attack somebody for being honest!

There are horrors over inadvertent age discrimination in Spain. In Catalunya the regional government has a special job recruitment agency, and all employers can fill in forms online. almost the first box has the opportunity for the employer to specify age, and the first choice is 18-45. Of course most employers fill in that box; as a result anybody over 45 never gets an offer, and after about three mohths you get a letter saying you clearly are not well-enough trained for the job you are looking for and would you please go along to thieir offices so they can give you counselling! And the newspapers carry long articles, accompanied by crocodile tears from the Miinister responsible, how most unemployed people over 45 are probably never going to work again!

In Saudi there is a limit for government jobs of 60. This means that if, like us, you have two year contracts you must be under 58 at the time of hiring. This appears perfectly reasonable to me; after all the country does have a youth unemployment rate running at 30%, and mandatory retirement from government service used to be, and probably still is in most countries, the norm rather than the exception. Trying to get this through to many Americans, who insist on calling me all the names under the sun or giving me an excrutiatingly detailed account of the number of pressups they do a day and how young at heart they are, is a drag; it's the number stupid! Then there are the feminists! In Saudi there are nearly as many teaching jobs for women as for men, but women teaches in womens schools, colleges and universities, and men teach in men's schools, colleges and universities. That has not stopped me being called a lacky of the Saudis, who are a primitive culture who will fuck anything that has a pulse! (don't where she got the idea about the pulse from).

The discrimination in Saudi is nationality discrimination. There are basically two payscales - the Saudi and Westerner pay scale, which are different but comparable, and the Third World Pay Scale which is about half. However, within that there is little discirimination based on age or looks. Korea or Japan are a different matter - they'll take a blonde Russian barman as an English teacher over a Black American with a degree from Cornell. Mind you, the places that insist on Ken and Barbie types are not those you really want to work in, and the discrimination there does not apply to the universities.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, January 1, 2004

I remember hearing the pulse phrase on the Sopranos.

tekumse
Thursday, January 1, 2004

Yea, Italians are probably more discriminating than Saudis :)

Stephen Jones
Thursday, January 1, 2004

Stephen, Are you posting from Saudi ? Are you being monitored ? :-)

Sunish
Saturday, January 3, 2004

---"Are you being monitored ? :-) "----

Probably by the Mosaad and the CIA :)

I doubt if the Saudis are either up to the work and intelligence involved, or could give a shit anyway.

Stephen Jones
Saturday, January 3, 2004

Are you kidding stephen ??

Some british or American arms company is probably charging then 14 mill a month for internet data mining....

Ok it's probably three philipinoes and a Sri Lankan dude in an office.... but still.....

braid_ged
Wednesday, January 7, 2004