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> I don't believe that it is at all discrimination because I'm using my best judgement for who can work most effectively with my team. That alone certainly isn

> I don't believe that it is at all discrimination because I'm using my best judgement for who can work most effectively with my team. That alone certainly isn't sufficient to make the criterion acceptable under US law. Like, for an obvious stupid example, a team full of men who don't think women belong in the workplace doesn't let you reject all the women. This is true even though the female candidate would genuinely be less effective at the job because of this. (And I don't mean to suggest that you think otherwise--I'm just saying that the criterion you give is not sufficient by itself.) For real, it gets murkier. A team full of kids who grew up rich, and are (like most of us) most comfortable around their own kind? A team that happily and effectively resolves its technical conflicts by yelling insults at each other, and then getting drunk at a bar? This is where the culture wars get fought, and the lawyers make their money...

jamestomasino 8y ago
Behavior is the key. It's not about where you're from, gender, ethnicity, or anything like that. It's about how you communicate and your work habits. Yelling insults at each other is a perfect example. In some cultures that works, in others it does not.
- tripletao 8y ago
  Where you're from, your gender, and your ethnicity strongly predict how you communicate, your work habits, and everything else about your behavior. Like, the "yelling insults" culture will tend to select for men over women, assuming typical American gender roles. At some point, the disparate impact of selecting for a behavior may select against a protected class by enough that it becomes illegal. You also have potential to get stuck in a local maximum, where you're hiring the best candidates to work with your existing team, but in doing so excluding a huge chunk of the global candidate pool. I agree that team fit is important, but it comes with a lot of asterisks.
- threatofrain 8y ago
  I'm surprised that someone thinks ethnicity or gender is not relevant to cultural fit. Yes it is. How can one not see that it's far more comfortable to hang out with your own culture, even if a latent part of that was a sparsity of blackness? Does one behave their race or gender away? No.

jamestomasino 8y ago

Behavior is the key. It's not about where you're from, gender, ethnicity, or anything like that. It's about how you communicate and your work habits. Yelling insults at each other is a perfect example. In some cultures that works, in others it does not.

tripletao 8y ago
Where you're from, your gender, and your ethnicity strongly predict how you communicate, your work habits, and everything else about your behavior. Like, the "yelling insults" culture will tend to select for men over women, assuming typical American gender roles. At some point, the disparate impact of selecting for a behavior may select against a protected class by enough that it becomes illegal. You also have potential to get stuck in a local maximum, where you're hiring the best candidates to work with your existing team, but in doing so excluding a huge chunk of the global candidate pool. I agree that team fit is important, but it comes with a lot of asterisks.
threatofrain 8y ago
I'm surprised that someone thinks ethnicity or gender is not relevant to cultural fit. Yes it is. How can one not see that it's far more comfortable to hang out with your own culture, even if a latent part of that was a sparsity of blackness? Does one behave their race or gender away? No.