Selección sin discriminación: Tres “Tips”

By: Msc. Abel Chinchilla Bazán
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Selección sin discriminación

Todos aspiramos a ser valorados en nuestro entorno laboral con base en nuestras cualidades, habilidades y fortalezas. Por años, hemos dedicado esfuerzo, desvelos, sacrificios económicos y emocionales, involucrado a nuestro núcleo cercano, en la construcción de la persona apetecible para el mercado laboral o alcanzar una meta de trabajar en una empresa que refleja nuestras aspiraciones profesionales.

How many of these aspirations and dreams, are truncated when having participated in recruitment processes, for which it has been equally arranged to meet requirements and attestations, and even valued possibilities in relation to other less qualified candidates - according to our understanding -, was not chosen, and even worse when, from my perspective, they select another person, whom I surpass in preparation and qualities.

The frustration is then triple when, on the part of those responsible for the selection, I am not given a reasonable explanation why I was not chosen and it is then when the mind, and the processes of personal interpretation, lead us to assume that we have been discriminated against, for some reason unknown to us and over which we have no control.

The feeling of rejection is difficult to digest for any person, but when it is combined with the need to access a job for which"I felt prepared" , in many cases it leads to frustration. In many cases, it leads to frustration, which, although in some cases, will be overcome with time, in others it may result in the decision to file a claim against the company or institution that chose someone else instead of me.

Discrimination, that is, the unfair differentiation that is made against a person, based solely on his or her personal qualities, whether by ethnic origin, disability, economic origin, sexual orientation, religious creed, or political affiliation, is currently sanctioned by labor law in Costa Rica and in many countries that have signed agreements such as 111 with the International Labor Organization.

There are still companies and organizations that continue to request in the offers of services, requirements such as attaching a photo, age, marital status, or residence of the person, sharing sensitive information that is not necessary for the performance of a position, such as if the person has debts, or suffers from any disease and often generates that the same bidder stands up, to be discarded immediately.

However, it is in the next stage, the selection, in which behaviors that can be interpreted as discriminatory are more frequently presented by the people who in the end were not elected and see how other people, if they manage to be hired.

Capacidades y destrezas de los candidatos

And the fact is that there still persist in companies, selection processes that are not oriented by the capabilities and skills of the candidates,but are limited to accrediting and weighing attestations and experience, to select a candidate in relation to another or others. This inevitably generates doubt and the assumption of an unjustified preference or discriminatory behavior, which on many occasions ends up in the courts of justice with the imposition of fines for the company or organization that fails to demonstrate that its selection has been objectively based.

En Costa Rica, lo anterior es además grave para quien es responsable del proceso de selección, con sanciones personales que además del pago de daños y perjuicios al o los afectados, pueden conducir a una destitución por contravenir normas laborales.

How often is a candidate allowed to demonstrate his or her skills, knowledge and abilities in a situation similar to the one he or she would face in the job to which he or she aspires?

There are still limited organizations and companies that provide this opportunity, and beyond an exam or a standardized test that demonstrates knowledge or logical interpretation processes, even these can be altered when the person performed it in a moment of stress that prevents him/her from concentrating properly.

How do I know that a PhD in Mathematics is capable of teaching an algebra class to 30 or 40 teenagers, if I do not put him in that situation? How do I know that a candidate to drive a forklift can maneuver with the speed and dexterity I require, if I do not give him the keys to the equipment he will have to drive?

In other words, we do not go from the theoretical to the practical, and this generates, in the candidate a feeling of frustration for not having been able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities and in the company or organization the uncertainty of having selected the right person or not for the job, hoping that in "the learning curve" that can be extended indefinitely, the shortcomings are solved or not at all is not achieved.

Moreover, this gives rise to the assumption of discriminatory behavior on the part of the rejected candidates, since they do not have objective reasons for not having been selected.

In view of this, I suggest at least these three recommendations or "tips" to avoid being the object of a claim in this sense:

  • Design inclusive selection tests, taking into consideration the needs of the candidates, and that they do not encounter obstacles to their performance, that is, that they do not become insurmountable barriers, but serve to demonstrate the suitability of the individual in relation to the tasks that he/she will actually have to perform.

  • Consider performing practices or tasks in situ, es decir, diseñe las pruebas de selección en lo posible, en el centro de trabajo, realizando las tareas que deberá realizar si es contratado, en un margen de tiempo razonable, y en las condiciones normales en las que se realizan las labores, tome en cuenta para esto, que si son pruebas para labores operativas, se consideren los riesgos de trabajo para evitar accidentes durante la realización de las pruebas.

  • Document. A frequent mistake in organizations is not to document the selection processes, use technological tools to document processes, take videos, record interviews, with the consent of the participants, this is proof for both parties so that the people responsible for these processes must also consider their ethical behavior at all times during the tests.

These three suggestions, I believe, are useful, necessary and simple to implement if we really want that there are no doubts about whether the people we select demonstrate their suitability without margin of doubt or at least with objective criteria, that is to say that we weigh knowledge and skills in relation to qualities that will not be useful in the growth and development of organizations.

 

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