No honkies need apply.
A pseudonymous writer in the Chronicle of Higher Education sadly bemoans the lack of suitable candidates for tenure-track positions at his unnamed college. What measures of suitability are they looking for?
From the article: "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a white male Protestant...."
Let's try this on for size. How about "We won't discriminate, but let's be honest here, we were not looking for a woman." "We were not looking for a Mexican." "Not looking for a homosexual." Fill in the blank with whatever convenient label might happen to be attached to you, Dear Reader. See how it sounds.
And academics wonder why rational people accuse them of being quota-obsessed bigots. Perhaps this unnamed college would have better luck finding good hires if it actually looked at job-related qualifications.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Pablo @ 3:24PM | 2003-10-09| permalink
In general, whenever ANYONE ever talks about "Suitable Candidates" they mean, "people who someone ELSE hired entry-level and trained for us." So the solution to the supposed LACK of qualified candidates is obvious....
email | website
Felix @ 1:10AM | 2003-10-10| permalink
Actually, I would meet that particular requirement.
I presume you mean that the lack of experienced candidates would be for companies to train them from entry level. Unfortunately, it's another Prisoner's Dilemma situation. Anyone who does the Right Thing is effectively penalized by the cost and inconvenience of training people, then having them poached away by competitors once they learn the business. Promoting people from within, and giving significant enough raises to match the salaries being offered elsewhere would go a long way toward solving this, but too many companies and organizations seem to follow the "grass-is-greener" principle of preferring to bring in glamorous high-priced outsiders rather than promote their own.
email | website
Pablo @ 10:27AM | 2003-10-10| permalink
Also, if you promote from within, you know how untrained the candidate is. But an outsider can lie and say that he has the experience, and there's a chance he may be telling the truth.
email | website
Felix @ 3:26PM | 2003-10-10| permalink
Yep. A phenomenon closely related to the "grass-is-greener" principle. The outsider has no history.
email | website
Post a Comment