Re: Help! First TW job interview

[Darren Barefoot <dbarefoot -at- MPS-CANADA -dot- COM>]

Good morning,

There is a valid lesson to be learned in this thread, for both Mr. Smith and
the bevy or respondents. We live, work and write in a globalized economy,
and need to be aware of the cultural assumptions we make. In his first post,
Mr. Smith failed to indicate what country his job interview was in, so I
think most people (including Mr. Rocco, below) assumed it was in the United
States. One went as far as to point out the federal law on the issue. I will
point out, with a bit of nationalist pride, that a Canadian, Ms. Credland,
was prudent enough to note Mr. Smith's e-mail address and not leap to any
conclusions. Mr. Smith might have foreseen this oversight, and the rest of
us might have followed Ms. Credland's lead in clarifying it.

From a cultural perspective, it may be perfectly acceptable in "northern
Europe" to hire people based on age. In fact, it seems genuine in that it
recognizes people's undeniable biases. As technical writers, we should
always consider the context within which we're operating. Thanks. DB.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Rocco [mailto:trocco -at- ONDISPLAY -dot- COM]
Sent: Friday, March 12, 1999 11:23 AM
To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
Subject: Re: Help! First TW job interveiw


Well, Stan, there is a pretty egregious problem with the job posting you are
responding to. The first requirement listed is the age of the applicant.
Discrimination based on age is akin to discrimination based on race or
gender. You can't say, "White male, 25 - 25, wanted for tech writer
position."  What this employer has done is highly illegal and could result
in serious legal consequences.

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