My series on the “The Complexion for the Connection” continues with story 2. A 29 year old male of Spanish decent gets hired at a call center for a brand new software program. This man has an extensive resume at numerous call centers where he has supervised and excelled at every one of them. During the training class the Program manager tells the class that he wants to promote from within. He goes on to describe that he will need at least another nine supervisors within 6 months. The class gets very excited and applauds his comments. He gets out of training in late February -early march. Upon getting on the phone he immediately excels.
In April he gets interviewed for the supervisor position, he is 1 out of 5 candidates. They decide to choose an older white male who clearly is full of his self. The 29 year is then told he by the program manager that he finished 2nd behind who they hired. He is a little disappointed but understands that the older white male had more “experience”. He looks forward to his next interview and knows that he is one step away from being a supervisor.
April and May rolls by and in that time they hire two more older white supervisor from outside the company. They never gave the 29 year old another interview during that time. He goes to talk to the Program Manager about why he is being overlooked and he is told that he missed one day of work so now he has attendances issues. The 29 year feels like that is bull shit but does not want to go back and forth with the big boss so he just decides to work harder. Meanwhile he is putting up crazy numbers, he wins employee of the month every month since the beginning of the program. He is training the new supervisors that are chosen over him on the systems and helping them with their team. He starts to help individual reps with best practices sale strategies. Upon his assistance all the reps he directly helps get dramatically better. In July they hire two more supervisors 1 from outside the company and 1 from within the company. The one supervisor they hired from within the company has only been on the software team for two months and have never reached goal. Again he was not even interviewed and didn’t even receive any information on any current openings. He becomes outraged and sends HR an e-mail below is a little from that e-mail:
I was refused an interview and told I was not even being considered yet 2 more sales managers have been hired on from off the street and one who has never met quota . The biggest issue I have is the fact that all these supervisors chosen over me all have 3 things in common they are OLDER WHITE MALES. As I am one who would never want to use such a statement to justify my point, I have not been shown that I am wrong when saying this. How is it I have to train the team of a supervisor that was chosen over me? How is it that after I hold best practices meetings with struggling individuals their numbers immediately rises? How is it I’m qualified enough to make reps more efficient but I’m not qualified enough to lead a team? Why is it I can’t even have received the courtesy of an interview but be burdened with expectancy to help those around me? These are corporate games that I have tried to avoid and I thought this company would be different apparently I was wrong … So I will sit in my seat and do what I was hired for absolutely no more or no less.
There is no explanation to why he is not getting interviews. His direct supervisor tells him to be patient and that he was not hired in the image of a supervisor. She goes on to tell him a lot of people who was hired after, where hired in the image of a supervisor. This is clearly a problem because everyone who has been hired has been OLDER WHITE MALES. He continues to work at the company and still exceeds expectation but does not extend his self any longer. He is now looked at as not being helpful and not a team player.
Now you tell me if this is fair. The Complexion for the Connection is alive and kicking today. Tomorrow I will wrap up my 3 day series with my final story. Feel free to comment or share your story at www.mindbenderent.com
WoW Son this is so crazy but I have seen things of this nature from my time spent as an executive team leader at Target in Brooklyn. People who have been with the company much longer and have some accolades to hang their hat on get passed over for an individual with a more “friendly” complexion…and then to make it worse they expect the minority to train that person on how to do the job they should have gotten.
I also so this happen when I worked at Enterprise Rent A Car in Manhattan too. Some places are stuck in the 1940’s….All you can do is get your resume together and leave it seems.
It is a very unfortunate epidemic that, sadly, may not become obsolete for a looooong time, IF at all.
They say “Never say never,” so I’ll say (realistically) this gentleman will not go any further in his career there, EVER. Their plans for him are obvious and advancement isn’t it. Apparently, he has the knowledge and is very talented at what he does. He should TAKE IT ALL SOMEWHERE ELSE…where his knowledge could land him something bigger/better, and his talents/skills are appreciated and actually rewarded; somehwere his his complexion is overlooked and not his value.
Life is about progression…and to remain somewhere where you’re shown and told that that’s NOT going to happen, is completely against my beliefs. ON TO THE NEXT…my complexion and all! LOL