You only have to open a newspaper to the job page (formerly known as the job pages!) to see where some of the issues lie. I don't know what it's like in the US

You only have to open a newspaper to the job page (formerly known as the job pages!) to see where some of the issues lie. I don't know what it's like in the US, but here it's very common to see job advertisements padded out with unnecessary and heavily loaded language like "we need a bubbly, bright and outgoing administrative assistant". I looked at a person spec the other day for a local council admin job which had "good sense of humour" in the desirable column. For that sort of job, personality type shouldn't come anywhere near the decision-making process - and whoever wrote that person spec should be called to account. It's not outright discrimination, but it does come close - and the experience of the bloke in the article is something I can identify with. You send in a good CV, stellar references and an eloquent, articulate covering letter, get called in to interview... and come second because you're ever so slightly awkward and tend to prefer to concentrate on working rather than making small talk about Britain's Got Talent. Perhaps it's partly why so many hacker types end up gravitating towards the startup world rather than a job in some big company...