mrcolj wrote:And I didn't mean the bad type of discrimination. I just mean that bosses, and yes, every one I've asked, is very open about tricks they have up their sleeve to filter out qualified people they don't like, or filter in less-qualified people they like.
If multiple candidates are qualified, then I figure out which ones compliment the team the best; ie. who is the easiest to get along with, who has an additional skill which the others in the group lack, who seems to have the most energy, the best sense of humor. If I like a candidate, or don't like a candidate, I'll simply say that. There isn't any need for tricks.
Do you consider discrimination and selection to be the same thing?
mrcolj wrote:So I'd suspect that you, like most people, hire largely based on your gut-feeling, and not just who had the highest GPA in college. Life isn't about always hiring he who has the best qualifications, or there would be no purpose for an interview in the first place.
It depends on how you define "qualifications". For me, qualification has very little to do with GPA because I know from experience that not everyone who comes out of college is good, and not everyone who is good comes from a college.
For me, qualification is the result of my assesement. But the assessment is not just based on "gut-feel". It is based primarily on a technical assesement followed by an estimation of relative benefits to the team into which the person will be included.
So in a sense, yes, I discriminate. I discriminate based on my estimation of a person's ability to do the job, and their ability to compliment the teams ability to accomplish the job.
But I don't consider my decisions to be based on "tricks up my sleeve" to exclude anyone.
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your question here. Maybe you can give me an example, and I can tell you how I would handle it.