Sexist Job Interview: Myth Or Reality
Have you ever thought whether men and women are equal in the face of a recruiter while they are undergoing a job interview? Just try to analyze the set of questions that these two groups are usually asked and you will see that there is still a great number of companies, which practice posing the sexist questions.
The statistics of the last years shows that women hear bizarre questions and various offensive propositions three times more often than men. Are you going to have a baby? Wouldn’t you mind to flirt with the clients for the good of business? What’s your view on dating with a colleague? How much your husband earn? Can you do a brighter make-up? Are you ready to change your style? What does your husband think about your coming home late? What are you ready to do to land this job?
Sometimes the women’ indignation knows no bounds. Awful! What are the employers thinking? How is it possible to poke the nose in my intimate life? Who is he to suggest me what clothes to wear? Even if some of the questions may seem harmless, some of them really make the blood boil! No relevance to the position, which the applicant dreams to take. Sometimes such tactlessness makes women melt into background, lost the tongue, or just burst into sobs.
Is such curiosity just a sign of poor company’s etiquette, or simply a desire of an employer to see how a potential worker may handle awkward questions and look for the best solutions of difficult situation?
No matter what the ground of sexism is, it is really everywhere today and the female interviewees should know how to respond, pretend coldness, and bear all the blows with good grace. In fact, banging the door is not the smartest decision a woman may take in such a situation.
Stay Calm: Easy Tips To Avoid Compromising Situations
If you have never experienced sexist interview first-hand or you have already had any unpleasant experience and you failed, the next tips proposed by Resume-writer.net may protect you from the next unceremonious employer and his attacks on you. Forewarned, forearmed, right?
- Is it relevant? Does your interviewer start crawling up into the private zone of your life and asking the questions, which have nothing in common with the aim of your meeting? Does he wants to know the salary of your dad or husband, or he is too persistent in nosing out your private life’s aspects? Don’t get nervous and let no negative emotions capture you. Just ask why he needs this info for and how your private life concerns the future job. Just remember that it’s your own affairs and nobody but you should decide whether to expatiate upon this subject or keep silent.
- Defend yourself. Don’t you like the questions you are asked? If you are not a one track minded person, just try to give not the direct answers. Does your potential boss want to know whether you have a boyfriend and what’s the color of his skin? Is he too interested in your feelings when you are surrounded by men? Just say that you considered this company to be equal towards all the people work for it and tell that such inquiries make you feel uncomfortable.
- Show your firmness. Being polite and firm at the same time is the main council, which may be given to any woman. When the next portion of awkward questions falls on you, just keep smiling and say that it seems such interrogation has nothing in common with your ability to execute the future duties.
- Catch the moment! Is the next posed question not too private, though it sounds a bit provocative? Does your interrogator want to know how you will deal with a team of men, who are under your command? Just say that it’s a good a question and you had enough experience and competence to feel comfortable with the co-workers without regard to gender. Good chance to make stress on your strong sides, isn’t it?
- Make the choice. If you are asked too many sexist questions that make you feel embarrassed and your potential boss is too impudent, think well about your desire to become a part of a team that is governed by such a cynic. Just imagine that you will need to collaborate with him daily. And what will wait for you if everybody in this office is so unfriendly? Will you be able to bear such a pressure day after day and stay cold? Decide whether such a code of corporate behavior is good for you until it is not late.
- Just a test? The professional career coaches insist that asking too many irrelevant questions may be just a desire of an employer to check your professionalism, determine your human traits, and see the qualities you hide somewhere deep inside you. An employer may just have a desire to understand how you will handle the contradictory situations and how strong you are to work under everyday pressure of thousands of factors. Until you don’t know whether such an inquiry is just a part of a plan designed to get acquainted with a candidate closer, or it is just an ordinary manifestation of sexism, it’s better to stay neuter and show your good breeding. By doing like this, you will be sure that nobody will think badly of you when the door after you is closed.
Do you want your interview to have a good run and at the end of it you are announced that your candidature is acclaimed? Stay polite through the conversation with your interviewer and try not to be supremely confident. Such phrases as ‘I am an excellent worker,’ ‘I have perfect skills in …,’ or ‘I am very active’ may irritate the employer and provoke a great tornado of questions, which were avoidable.
Resume-writer.net takes care of each job-seeker and wants every person to find his place in the job market. By subscribing to our blog, you will protect yourself from getting into hot water and your candidature will be affirmed twice as quicker. Click here and get acquainted with super useful posts that will bring you success no matter whether you are a competent specialist or just a zero-experience graduate. Stay lucky!