General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When Is It Appropriate And Not Appropriate To Hire Someone Based On Physical Appearance? [View all]LearningCurve
(488 posts)These all came out of the discussion and proved to be challenging.
RACE
Chinese Restaurant. You have applicants who are not Asian, but are qualified. However, you want to project "authenticity" so you feel inclined to staff visible personal based on whether or not people could see them as Chinese. So is it okay to hire exclusively Koreans, Thais, Japanese, Chinese, etc? Knowing you may lose business to another place that has at least the illusion of being authentic.
GENDER
A Rape Crisis Hotline. I had a few women admit that they would feel much more comfortable talking to a woman as a first contact. Some strongly so. So knowing this, do you hire a qualified man if women are available, knowing you might be turning away people from getting help?
AGE
Let's say a clothing store dealing in current fashion for teens. Knowing that a customer might not want "Grandpa's" opinion on current trends, no matter how into youth culture he might be, do you hire him or the college student?