It has taken me some time to think about what to say about Day 2. And I think I have it!
A session I attended was a review of research done on how employers make hiring decisions, how diversity plays a part, and what recruitment looks like. It was fascinating data! What stuck out to me was the notion of "fit". Sometimes employers hire people they like, they think they will work well with, they think look good for the company, or they know because of a connection. When they break the news to the other unsuccessful candidates, a reason used often was because they were not a good fit.
I myself have used that. I tried to define and quantify what that means and usually include examples of personality characteristics, skill sets we are in need of, or time commitments when I meet students who have huge credit loads and multiple club and organization responsibilities. In the research, employers were more basing their decision on the fact that they didn't want to hire people culturally different from them. For example, *Abercrombie & Fitch didn't hire a woman and said it was because she wasn't a good fit even though she scored high on the test and had great interview questions. She is suing them because it was later discovered that the hiring manager was told by another supervisor to not hire the woman because she was wearing a hijab, or head scarf, demonstrating her Muslim heritage.
What do y'all think? Should we continue to use the notion of "fit" in our hiring practices?
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