I want to talk about discrimination and prejudice, because I am not at all sure that the laws we recruiters work to are doing what they are supposed to. In trying to do something positive, the powers that be have achieved very little as people still make the decisions that they do based on personal judgements that remain unaffected by the legislation supposed to safeguard equality. This year I have been told by recruiters trying to get around the law, for some reason known only to them and unprompted, that:

- “I’m not racist or anything but I just thought I would let you know his family is of African origin, do you know what I mean?”
- “Just in case you were wondering, we did talk about families and she is not intending to have any children in the near future.”
- “He doesn’t look his age and is very energetic.”
- “He isn’t married and is not the type to be considering that, if you see what I mean.”

Apart from being quite staggering, all the above are unnecessary, misleading, breaking the rules and unhelpful. But are these the statements of the criminal and the morally debased or are they the statements of poor recruiters trying to be helpful and getting it wrong?

Who among us is not unusual for some reason? Diversity is to be celebrated, not hidden. Of course that is over simplistic and of course we must protect the vulnerable and the perceived minority, but what we currently do does not achieve that

Thanks but no thanks for the warnings, as who does that leave me to recruit? And how does the recruiter know that I am not in one or more of those categories? And why is that people who are not in any of those categories are presumed to be great hires?

We all know that the low barriers to entry in our sector mean that some fairly unsophisticated people exist within it, but doesn’t our rather ham-fisted set of laws on this subject just make things worse?

We are in danger of being de-sensitised to all this stuff.

Who among us is not unusual for some reason? Diversity is to be celebrated, not hidden. Of course that is over simplistic and of course we must protect the vulnerable and the perceived minority, but what we currently do does not achieve that.

We have laws to prevent discrimination and they should be enforced rigorously but it seems to me that in the UK in 2010 we are paying lip service to stopping discrimination. Those who represent us to the legislators are limp at best; the rags we read pay some attention but it’s not their job.

If you read this and agree or disagree, please do us all a favour and write, blog, shout from the rooftops or engage your colleagues in conversation as the only way to create the freest and fairest environment is to talk openly about these issues and educate. Avoiding discussion and covering our backsides will only drag us down into the media-promoted slush of superficiality we are too often slaves to.

Amen.

Stefan Ciecierski is director at international design and digital recruiter Nakama International