It’s amazing that last week I wrote about “get over it.” So, today, I get an email from the candidate of mine who sees an ad advertisement about a job that I publish on Linkedin. The company is looking for a VP of sales who has had experience selling and managing a sales force in mobility products sold to the department of defense. They want exactly than experience and I made it very clear that these are their parameters.
The candidate had called me and explained that she had worked at a mobile phone manufacturer and at another job worked with the DOD because she had served in Desert Storm. I explained that I was sure that her experience was good but that it didn’t fit what my client wanted, which was a vice president of sales for a company that developed mobile devices or software to the department of defense. She writes me and tells me that “you are discriminating against me for being a woman, a woman of color and a veteran. Because men I have talked to that have engaged with you have had different experiences.” What???
This is as much a victim mentality as I have seen in a long time. She just plain doesn’t fit what the client is looking for. I’m convinced she could probably do the job, but as I explained to her, doing the job and getting the job are two different things. She does not have the qualifications for the job. Compared to the candidates that I recruited today, she doesn’t even come close.
It’s to my best interest to please my clients. If I send them people who are obviously, unquestionably not qualified, not only will they not get hired, but I’ll lose the client. And on top of that the thought that I was discriminating against her for being a woman, a woman of color and a veteran is totally absurd. And to say that I talked to men than it had different experiences is nuts. I only talk to four people about this position …all of them today. I’m going to present three of these people and one of them is a woman. But she’s qualified.On top of that I’m quite confident that the candidate that emailed me doesn’t know any of the candidates that I’m presenting. I have no idea what “men” she might be talking about.
This kind of thing is so frustrating. Some people just want to be victims.
