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> The judge limited the class to people who had an in-person interview, which means that job applicants who only had phone interviews can't join the class. I f
by eganist 10y ago
> The judge limited the class to people who had an in-person interview, which means that job applicants who only had phone interviews can't join the class.
I feel (anecdotal only) that it's pretty easy to approximate age due e.g. to lexicon and potentially dialect, and that it's even easier to pick up on certain vocal changes in older candidates, so I can see the argument in favor of including phone interviews in the class.
That said, the argument for restricting it to only people who passed the phone screens appears to be that the phone screen establishes an initial impression of qualification (skimmed from page 13 of the ruling; I could be entirely wrong and could've quoted an irrelevant passage, but I'd like to think this is accurate):
> The proposed class would include an unknown number of “applicants” who demonstrate no plausible qualifications for the job. To establish a prima facie case of an ADEA violation, the plaintiff must show, among other things, that he was qualified for the position.
https://www.scribd.com/document/326637833/Google-Age-Discrimination https://www.scribd.com/document/326637833/Google-Age-Discrim...
- mc32 10y agoIn addition to age discrimination (telling apart) via lecicon choice, one can also listen for heavy breathing, lethargy, etc. and come to conclusions which could be counter to proscribed hiring practices.
- eganist 10y agoI'd argue that these could also be used to illegally discriminate against potentially disabled (including invisibly disabled) candidates.
- dfrey 10y agoYou can usually tell from a roughly how old a person is just from reading their resume. If they list themselves as a team lead in 1990, then you can be pretty sure that they are at least 50. I would guess that the judge wants to limit to people who had in-person interview because that shows that they were at least close to getting the job. If you have gotten past the phone interview stage then you have already demonstrated basic competence. If you're trying to fill a junior position, then you don't want to hire someone who has been working as a chief architect for the last 10 years. It's not about their age. It's about the fact that they are way overqualified and will probably quit as soon as they can find something that they are qualified for.
- objclxt 10y ago> You don't want to hire someone who has been working as a chief architect for the last 10 years. It's not about their age. It's about the fact that they are way overqualified That's not necessarily true. Maybe they burned out and want a less stressful role. Or maybe they've cashed out and are looking for a job they would enjoy and can afford to not worry about the paycheck. Frankly, job titles can also be pretty meaningless. If I saw a resume on my desk for a junior role with somebody with senior experience I'd probably ask them "why are you looking to move into this role?". I wouldn't rule them off outright, because I understand that people's circumstances often change, and not everybody is driven by a career trajectory that's constantly moving upwards.
- dfrey 10y agoYou're right. I probably oversimplified to save on typing. I actually work with a person who is 60ish and has held considerably more senior roles in the past. He seems pretty happy in his less senior role. I think he wanted something a little less demanding.
- itsdrewmiller 10y agoThis is actually a myth - overqualified employees perform better and don't quit earlier: https://hbr.org/2010/12/the-myth-of-the-overqualified-worker https://hbr.org/2010/12/the-myth-of-the-overqualified-worker
- dfrey 10y agoInteresting. Thanks for the link!
- ben_jones 10y agoOlder users of HN, would you mention requirements that possibly indicate older age in your phone interview? Like requirements for location and hours that may indicate or be justified by family priorities? I feel like those must be quite common and would necessitate the class include people who just phone screened..
- gcp 10y agoI would expect willingness to relocate to be tied to age.