Job Interview Process

[Strongman]

This question is to newmom, since you seem to be knowledgeable. My resume was faxed by an employment agency to a brokerage firm. The fax sent to the HR person contained info pertaining to my current salary and what I was seeking. When I went on the interview the HR person seemed surprised that I was a person of color. I filled out an application and my interview lasted only 2 minutes. The HR person did not shake my hand. There was no introduction, she did tell me anything about the position I was suppose to interview for. The only question she asked me was "why was I seeking to leave my current position, since I had not been there very long". Furthermore, she did not allow me to interview with the dept manager, She told me that he was in a meeting (later I found out that was a lie). The HR person promised to reschedule an interview (also a lie).
I had a friend that worked for the company that asked his manager to call HR and find out what happened at my interview. She told the manager that I was asking for too much money! How could that be true, when the agency had faxed over my resume, it had that information on it. When I told the employment agency about the information that I had found out about from my friend, she tried unsuccessfully to contact the HR person. Yet, I found out today that the same HR person is requesting to see more people for the same position.
I never got the chance to be interviewed,yet I'm asking for too much money. I really think that I was discriminated against and I am very hurt by what happened. Didn't I have a right to know about the position I was suppose to be interviewed for. Please tell me what you think about my story. Also, I'm sorry it took so many words for me to express myself. But, I really need to get this off my chest. I have a wife and 3 children and I want to make a honest living like everyone else.

Thank you,
Strongman

 

[newmom]

Many companies have different hiring processes. In my company, the President does all the interviewing (not HR like you would expect). It sounds to me like you were discriminated against, but I am not a lawyer and apparently discrimination cases are tricky and hard to prove. Basically, from what I can see from reading the laws for equal opportunity (and I don't want to offend you in any way) is that if a minority (african american, chinese, japanese, etc..) and a caucation apply for the same job with equal experience and everything else on the application is pretty much equal, the company is always safer to go with hiring the minority applicant for the plain and simple fact that they may be inadvertantly setting themself up for a lawsuit. My experience here is this, we often do interview individuals who are asking for more money than we are really willing to pay. Mainly to see if the person really is worth that amount. Sometimes (more often than not) the applicant takes less money that asked for and gets the job. It just may be that you were asking for too much money. Did you question the HR interviewer about the position and she refused to tell you anything?? Not getting the job could be any number of reasons. If you did not initiate any conversation or questions, that sometimes looks bad on you. I hate that I don't have more information for you!! I appreciate you directing your question to me Discrimination is a hard one for me because I don't agree with the vague language in some of the laws, therefore I think pretty much anyone has a legitimate case if they feel they were discriminated (mainly because it's so hard for a company to prove it didn't). Good luck to you and I now must suggest what I complained about weeks ago - that is speak with a lawyer in PERSON and get the facts from him or her.