Is it wrong to not hire a person who uses a hyphen?

Question

I have interviewed many hundreds possibly over a thousand perspective employees over the years and I have hired plenty of them but with such a large number of people trying to get a job I have had to develop certain stratagies to cull the heard of perspectives. One rule was to automatically toss a resume that announced a persons background with a hyphen.

******** - American. I have always felt that people who demand special acknowledgment are typically a bad fit for a team and I wont waste my time with them. Additionally when I do interview I will also forgo anyone with a built in excuse, this would be anyone who points out that they are disadvantaged because of race, religion, s*x, orientation, etc...

I firmly believe that anyone who has a pre-built excuse will eventually find a reason to use it.

How many would consider this a bad practice and why?

Answer 1

I wouldn't be surprised if you have wildly exaggerated your experience.  

If it was really such a simple matter of reviewing resumes to determine the suitability of a candidate, there would be little rationale for a formal interview process.  

Short of a blind man applying for a pilot's job, resumes are much like first impressions - they are frequently misleading.  

Race and ethnicity are only germain for statistical purposes.  Education, previous experience, and reliability are what count.  

Like I said, I doubt you have the experience you claim you do.  Had you worked for me, you would have been quickly looking for a new job yourself, based on what you have described here.

Answer 2

The hyphen is very dangerous-that person could be very a talented person and perfect for the job-but if they go around wielding hyphens like that- I mean-all wreckless and all-they gotta go-

Answer 3

I'm in the minority here, but I think it would be unprofessional for anyone to announce their ethnic background on the resume. Are you rejecting people only because they're named Mohammed, Patel, or Wang? If not, then I don't see a problem. I'm certaintly not going to put on my resume that I'm a German-American with an overprotective mother and a father who doesn't shower and who was disadvantaged because I was a depressed teenager. It's whining and it's immature. That's enough to refuse someone the job.

Answer 4

I don't think it's wrong, and my experience tells me you are absolutely right. It's called thinning the herd. Keep up the good work.

Answer 5

I would consider this a bad practice. Why? Because it's discrimination. Your thinking that sharing your ethnicity is a "pre-built excuse" is flawed.

Having strategies like the one you described is silly!! It implies that you can't adequately assess each applicant's eligibility based on the qualifications they state in the resume.

HR courses in business school teach you to base recruitment on how well each applicant fits each criteria. They don't teach you to create these kind of "strategies."

Obviously, you can't be 100% sure of a candidate's ability to excel on the job based on their resume and a first impression. But a record of experience is sure a better indicator than their ethnic background!

Oh, and did I mention it's discrimination?

Answer 6

How are you doing the hiring when you aren't even literate?

Answer 7

"I firmly believe that anyone who has a pre-built excuse will eventually find a reason to use it".........looks like you're describing yourself perfectly!

Answer 8

Sound good to me.  Just breaking it down so you can manage the list.  No problem here

Answer 9

It's wrong.  You know it's wrong, I know it's wrong, everybody knows it's wrong. BUT, it is not uncommon.  My last job was doing job placement for a local temp agency.  During our training we were taught the HR Rules but then we were also taught the "Real World Rules".  As a business owner you are going to do whatever you can to protect your business and getting drowned is lawsuits is not good for business.  So you have to put up a shield and unfortunately you do have to look at all the possibilities.  And it's amazing how much stuff people are willing to tell during an interview.  They will tell you how the got fired because of "discrimination", "favoritism", or how they've been on Workers' Comp, etc., so this to you is a major RED FLAG.  It is a bad practice but just don't go advertising you do.

Answer 10

So, you are admitting to discriminating against "African"- Americans?  That's how it reads (inbetween the lines.)  I hope affirmative action is in place at your organization!

I'm sure you are denying many qualified applicants.  A hyphen doesn't mean that you have a chip on your shoulder, it means that you choose to acknowledge all of your heritage (Italian-American, Native American, African-American, etc.)

Answer 11

Man I wish I knew where you worked so I could file a discrimination suit against you :-)  Only kidding.

By the way, anyone who needs a job and comes to you, why would they say they are disadvantaged?  What kind of racquet are you running