"We throw black people's CVs in the bin"
"I couldn't interview him, he's got a black-sounding name" the boss said.
He'd given me the task to recruit new advisers for the company. I'd put adverts together, found the job sites, listed them and had a few candidates.
It was a sales position, he had a good track record... this candidate had ticked every box that my boss had asked for. He was a nice, very mild-mannered bloke when I'd phoned him. He was perfect for the job on paper.
But that wasn't good enough.
"In my experience most black people are bullshitters" said the boss.
I told him OK.
But internally I was fuming. I was angry. After all this work I did - and he wouldn't even listen to the most promising guy we'd found.
If I'd recorded that conversation, it would be grounds for a racial discrimination case.
"If we get a CV and it's not an English-sounding name like Peter, or Joe, or Steve - we throw it in the bin".
I felt really uneasy like I wanted to vomit, but I couldn't. This guy was ugly on so many levels.
And at the time I just didn't have the balls to stand up for myself. I just said OK meekly and listened.
This was 21st century Britain. And I found it surprising people still thought like that.
I never told the candidate the real reason why we said no to him. Because I didn't want to get in trouble with my boss.
Nor did I ever take it any further, not that I could have... because there wasn't any evidence.
Needless to say I left the job within a few weeks of that. But it really shook me.
Kudos to you for standing up to your boss and ultimately leaving. People like you give me hope that there is still some humanity left in this world.
As someone living in a country where the majority are another color, I can't believe the racist slurs I still keep hearing in this day and age.
I usually just laugh it off, and my friends do to, or tell the guy off for being something that used to be cool in the 19th century. It baffles me people don't feel like complete idiots or are self-aware how dumb racism is.
In my opinion people matter from experience and how they/you treat eachother, race has nothing to do with anyone's intentions/personality.
This boss became quite toxic with me.
One of the things he said was "if you give a man enough rope, he'll hang himself"
Touche.
Well it depends on the field. In Information Technology you don't have the luxury to be racist. Most of the best developers are on H1B . People like your boss will go the way of the dinosaurs pretty soon.