Am I being discriminated against? (Please Read!!)

[PNorman]

Hi! I am curious about something. I graduated with a Master's Degree in Sport Administration in 2014. To complete my degree, I performed an internship with a local parks and recreation organization. I worked unpaid for 400 hours, including extensive work with their seniors program. I assisted with activities and even coordinated my own activities that garnered tremendous reception.

Right as my internship was about to end, the Senior Program Director was about to retire. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to apply for the position. I received nothing but positive remarks throughout my internship and was about to graduate with a Master's degree in a related field and a 4.0 GPA. Unfortunately, I didn't get the position. According to the newspaper article describing her hire, a young, attractive female was awarded the position. She had a degree but in an non-related field. She had ZERO experience in parks and recreation and ZERO experience with seniors. I later found out that a group of seniors from the program had campaigned at the director's office for me to get the position but she got it instead...

Well I thought this couldn't be topped. That was until I applied for the same position with another local parks and recreation organization. I received an interview and everything seemed to be going well. However, I didn't get this job either. After some time, I was researching the department again. I was curious who ended up getting the job and what their resume looked like. I saw their name on the department website and looked them up on Facebook (sneaky I know). Once again, a young, attractive female that graduated HIGH SCHOOL in 2014. Someone that had just graduated high school beat out someone with a Master's degree in a related field, a current position in parks and recreation, and a former internship in which I gained significant experience with seniors.

There are a couple of noteworthy aspects here to consider. 1) I have disabilities with my arms and legs. I don't have full range of motion with my left arm or left leg. I can walk, climb stairs, lift objects, etc. but I do have some limitations.

2) The director at the second place I mentioned here that I interviewed at is also female. I heard from my current supervisor that she had no experience in parks and recreation either when she got the job.

Is there anything I can do about this legally?

I just want to set the record straight here...I have absolutely nothing against females in administrative roles, whether it be parks and recreation or any other field. I respect equality in the workplace. It just seems like to me that the second organization I applied to favors females unfairly.

 

[cbg]

There is no possible way we can judge from here whether or not there was any illegal discrimination going on. There is no law anywhere in the US that requires them to hire the person with the longest laundry list of qualifications. It might be discrimination - it might be that the person hired had some qualification they were looking for that isn't obvious by their Facebook page. In any case, to go from an intern directly to a senior director's position is a pretty big jump no matter how enthusiastic the program clients might have been.

There is a 50-50 chance that any given job is going to go to a woman, there being only two options. That two such positions both hired women is not proof of discrimination.

 

[commentator]

Keep applying for positions, even entry level positions. It is a misconception that a degree, masters or regular college level, will automatically qualify you for any position higher than entry level. Experience is much more impressive than a degree, which demonstrates nothing more than that you can go to school, not that you can successfully manage a program or work with others, much less supervise them. Your successful internship is a plus to you in the job market, but it does not make it mandatory that even the place you interned has to give you a job.

Also, keep applying for positions while taking your eyes off the people who got the job instead of you. You are not privy to their personal information or the reasons they got the job instead of you. Not getting two positions you've applied for (when most people have to apply for hundreds before they get that first one) that you thought you were ideal for does not make any kind of discrimination case. How do you know they didn't have special qualifications you don't know about?

If you get out there in the job market in your rather specialized field and turn out to be somebody with a disability and a lot of degrees who is looking for a chance to file a discrimination lawsuit against anyone who doesn't hire you, you will probably never find work in the field.

 

[PNorman]

There is no possible way we can judge from here whether or not there was any illegal discrimination going on. There is no law anywhere in the US that requires them to hire the person with the longest laundry list of qualifications. It might be discrimination - it might be that the person hired had some qualification they were looking for that isn't obvious by their Facebook page. In any case, to go from an intern directly to a senior director's position is a pretty big jump no matter how enthusiastic the program clients might have been.

There is a 50-50 chance that any given job is going to go to a woman, there being only two options. That two such positions both hired women is not proof of discrimination.

To go from an intern directly to a senior director's position is a pretty big jump no matter how enthusiastic the program clients might have been....exactly!! I would have had no problem not getting the position over someone equally or higher qualified. But she just graduated high school!! Isn't that a MUCH larger jump than the one I would have been making?

 

[Zigner]

To go from an intern directly to a senior director's position is a pretty big jump no matter how enthusiastic the program clients might have been....exactly!! I would have had no problem not getting the position over someone equally or higher qualified. But she just graduated high school!! Isn't that a MUCH larger jump than the one I would have been making?

Yeah, kind of sucks, huh?

Not illegal.

 

[commentator]

Well, in the cold cruel truth of the world, maybe she's the director's granddaughter. Or maybe she's sleeping with someone important in the organization. Or maybe she's just VERY personable and has some good management experience, which you do not have because she was getting it while you were in school getting degrees. It's just something you have to accept, that sometimes they don't pick you. And sometimes the reason you don't get the position is not fair. Nepotism is not illegal and neither is hiring the least qualified candidate. Legitimate EEOC complaints about not being hired for a position occur just about only when the hiring official is dumb enough to say, "Well, we aren't going to hire you because we just don't think that with your physical limitations, you'd be able to do the job, and with your disabilities, you don't present the correct image for us." Preferably after they say this on paper or in a taped recording.

 

[tranquility]

Well, in the cold cruel truth of the world, maybe she's the director's granddaughter. Or maybe she's sleeping with someone important in the organization. Or maybe she's just VERY personable and has some good management experience, which you do not have because she was getting it while you were in school getting degrees. It's just something you have to accept, that sometimes they don't pick you. And sometimes the reason you don't get the position is not fair. Nepotism is not illegal and neither is hiring the least qualified candidate. Legitimate EEOC complaints about not being hired for a position occur just about only when the hiring official is dumb enough to say, "Well, we aren't going to hire you because we just don't think that with your physical limitations, you'd be able to do the job, and with your disabilities, you don't present the correct image for us." Preferably after they say this on paper or in a taped recording.

Absent the parks and recreation "organization" being a governmental or quasi-governmental agency, I agree.

 

[commentator]

I agree that being a city or county government entity will make them have to be a little more aware of EEOC guidelines and a little less blatant about who the hire and why, but it can still be pretty rough. I dealt for years with state government, where you got the shirttail relatives and best friends and girlfriends and boyfriends and nieces of everybody influential. What it usually means is that guided by their internal HR, which tends to know their stuff, they are not as likely as is some dumb butt private employer to make the sort of boo-boo where they say, "Well, really we had decided it would be better to hire a chick to work with these old folks!" It is sort of a plus to have a person employed in your city or county or state or federal job who is in a legitimate EEOC protected category. It might work in your favor to have some slight disability. But of course, a human being of any type is in some EEOC category.

 

[cbg]

Hi! I am curious about something. I graduated with a Master's Degree in Sport Administration in 2014. To complete my degree, I performed an internship with a local parks and recreation organization. I worked unpaid for 400 hours, including extensive work with their seniors program. I assisted with activities and even coordinated my own activities that garnered tremendous reception.

Right as my internship was about to end, the Senior Program Director was about to retire. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to apply for the position. I received nothing but positive remarks throughout my internship and was about to graduate with a Master's degree in a related field and a 4.0 GPA. Unfortunately, I didn't get the position. According to the newspaper article describing her hire, a young, attractive female was awarded the position. She had a degree but in an non-related field. She had ZERO experience in parks and recreation and ZERO experience with seniors. I later found out that a group of seniors from the program had campaigned at the director's office for me to get the position but she got it instead...

Well I thought this couldn't be topped. That was until I applied for the same position with another local parks and recreation organization. I received an interview and everything seemed to be going well. However, I didn't get this job either. After some time, I was researching the department again. I was curious who ended up getting the job and what their resume looked like. I saw their name on the department website and looked them up on Facebook (sneaky I know). Once again, a young, attractive female that graduated HIGH SCHOOL in 2014. Someone that had just graduated high school beat out someone with a Master's degree in a related field, a current position in parks and recreation, and a former internship in which I gained significant experience with seniors.

There are a couple of noteworthy aspects here to consider. 1) I have disabilities with my arms and legs. I don't have full range of motion with my left arm or left leg. I can walk, climb stairs, lift objects, etc. but I do have some limitations.

2) The director at the second place I mentioned here that I interviewed at is also female. I heard from my current supervisor that she had no experience in parks and recreation either when she got the job.

Is there anything I can do about this legally?

I just want to set the record straight here...I have absolutely nothing against females in administrative roles, whether it be parks and recreation or any other field. I respect equality in the workplace. It just seems like to me that the second organization I applied to favors females unfairly.

Q4P

Please note that above, you have indicated that the job in which you would have been going directly from intern to senior director, the successful candidate DID have a degree, just not one in the same field you had. She was not coming directly from high school - that was later, if at all. I very much doubt that your stalking the candidate's Facebook page is giving you an accurate assessment of their qualifications.