I've had this idea for a while, but HireRoulette came up and I thought it was a good time to finally post this.
This is a garment that a job interviewee wears. It covers their entire body and keeps the interviewer from seeing anything that they could unconsciously discriminate based on (gender presentation, manner of dress, skin color, height, ugliness, etc.).
Height is disguised by a frame that holds the top of the garment at some adjustable height above the wearer's actual head. Interviewers will know this is adjustable, so a tall person can just set it to zero and the interviewer won't know they're not a short person who set it higher.
Probably a voice changer should be incorporated too.-- notexactly, Sep 07 2016 Absolutely not. For one thing, what if I want to discriminate? More seriously, why not just conduct the interview by phone?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2016 If the candidate gets hired but turns out to be really ugly, could their contract require them to keep wearing the burqa ?
Could that be introduced retrospectively for existing employees ? Now, that WOULD be a truly great idea.-- 8th of 7, Sep 07 2016 Interview by social media. Maybe here, with candidates judged by how well they can spell and their attitude towards French cats, exploding mimes, and bee-flavored custard...-- RayfordSteele, Sep 07 2016 More or less how orchestras audition new musicians - by asking then to play behind a screen-- hippo, Sep 07 2016 I'm pretty sure I haven't heard that one.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2016 I did this here already: something like Darth Vader costume for job interviews.-- nineteenthly, Sep 07 2016 " So do you know who it was that interviewed you for this job ? "
" No, man, we all wore that creepy burqa thing with voice changers "-- normzone, Sep 07 2016 Or even:
"Good news is we found the ideal candidate. Bad news is we don't know who the fuck it was."-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 07 2016 Well I think HR gets to take a photo and match it up with the ID number pinned to the front of the Burqa to avoid confusion between candidates.-- scad mientist, Sep 07 2016 Let us assume for the sake of argument that this is the right solution for the interview process and will prevent other people's biases influencing their perception of your interview answers. Logically then, after you have got the job, you should continue to wear this burqa while at work, to prevent other people's biases influencing their perception of your work. Perhaps after ten years' service you might be allowed to remove the face covering during tea breaks, or stop using the voice change while talking on the phone.-- hippo, Sep 07 2016 // to prevent other people's biases influencing their perception of your work //
... or, more importantly, to prevent the milk turning sour and all the clocks stopping.-- 8th of 7, Sep 07 2016 A scanner darkly in a scramble-suit.-- zen_tom, Sep 07 2016 I don't like this mainly because would want to I screen out people who may actually wear burkas.-- bob, Sep 08 2016 The core concepts behind this kind of thinking is that ideals are more important than realities.
As someone who hires and fires people, high on my list is the ability of someone to be a functional member of a productive team, good interpersonal skills, functional social processes, whatever physical requirements the role requires like being fit and healthy, etc. Multiply that by any requirement for customer or stakeholder service - sadly enough, average joe the consumer doesn't want their fries handed out by someone with leprosy or something major that's likely to put people off, or to be greeted at a front desk of a multinational legal firm by someone who can't be pleasant - if not neat and professional.
Ultimately, what's actually wrong with an employer being selective? Does anybody owe anybody a job?-- Custardguts, Sep 08 2016 By their nature, interviewers have to discriminate.
Where there are many applicants, but only one post to fill, a choice is inevitable.
Governments can pass endless laws forbidding discrimination on the grounds of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, height, hair colour, disability, or musical preferences. But in the end, employers have to choose the individual most suited to the role, or they will be at a competitive disadvantage.-- 8th of 7, Sep 09 2016 And even less likely to win one, especially if any potential employers do a search on you and come up with your comments on this particular site...-- RayfordSteele, Sep 09 2016 Unless they're looking for someone who is not competitive...There is a selection issue here: Job selection processes are biased towards people who are good at job applications and interviews irrespective of their actual job-relevant skills, so the workplace becomes full of the kind of people who are good at 'selling' themselves. It's an analogous problem to that of the selection of politicians, which is actually more serious - being a politician is risky, because you're exposed to media scrutiny and you could easily get voted out of office and be jobless, so it attracts people who have a high tolerance for risk in their lives. These people, when in office, then are comfortable taking risks (with Government policies, foreign wars, etc.) which most people would not be comfortable with. A political class made up of risk-takers is, of course, not representative of the general public which is a failure of the democratic process.-- hippo, Sep 09 2016 It's a fundamental and insurmountable flaw of representative democracy.-- 8th of 7, Sep 09 2016 //Burqa-like garment for job interviews// the French would say "non" - shirley a point in its favour.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 09 2016 Makes me wonder, in what job-bearing country, besides Britain perhaps and maybe France, which doesn't count, are native white guy Britons actively discriminated against?-- RayfordSteele, Sep 09 2016 No, they gave jobs to Lord Haw-haw and P G Wodehouse …-- 8th of 7, Sep 09 2016 Can interviewees be naked under the burka? Can they be subtly and spicily perfumed? Might this person be /'selling' themselves/? Is spicily a word?-- bungston, Sep 09 2016 // Can interviewees be naked under the burka? //
Minimal research indicates that, under their clothing, 97.3%* of humans are in fact completely naked.
// Can they be subtly and spicily perfumed? //
The two would appear to be mutually exclusive.
// Might this person be /'selling' themselves/? //
Yes, but that statement is open to misinterpretation, and quite possibly civil or indeed criminal proceedings.
// Is spicily a word? //
Yes.
*Don't ask.-- 8th of 7, Sep 09 2016 +1 This would make interviews much easier for socially anxious people, as we would be judged on our actual merits rather than the superficial crap that HR types care about.-- omegatron, Sep 09 2016 They charge them to parlimentary expenses.-- 8th of 7, Sep 10 2016 What's really needed is a remote control burka-like garment, with a canned set of responses to questions, so I can send it off to job interviews while I do something less tedious.-- not_morrison_rm, Sep 10 2016 It's called "telepresence" ...-- 8th of 7, Sep 11 2016 // Ultimately, what's actually wrong with an employer being selective? //
Nothing, for job-relevant characteristics. My idea doesn't block any of the things you listed, except perhaps leprosy.
// insurmountable //
Have you forgotten which bakery you're in?
// What if it gets the job, and does it for you? //
I don't see why this would be a problem.-- notexactly, Sep 20 2016 random, halfbakery