Is HR Biased

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I'm not one of those people who play the victim. I find that irritating. At the same time I wonder if a lot of the reasons I did badly in job interview was because I'm Asian, Autistic, or a college student. In all honesty I am suspicious companies are biased. I dress well for the interview, I have a firm handshake, I look the people in the eye, I ask questions, so in the end besides being nervous am I messing up or are these companies being biased or is it merely someone else was more qualified??

It could be any or all of the above. There is a vast diversity of corporate cultures, and what comes across well in an interview for one company might not come across well for another. It's a crapshoot, which is why it's important to keep as many "irons in the fire" as you can -- always have more interviews lined up at other prospective employers. It can take a long time and dozens of interviews before finding a good match.

On the other hand, you can glean some hints by asking HR if they have recommendations for you, when you are rejected. If you are polite and earnest and ask "can you suggest what I might have done differently?" they might have something helpful to say. Or they might not. Some HR departments are more decent than others. If you can get a dozen tips from a dozen rejections, that should equip you well to put a better face forward for future interviews.

Could be anything or nothing - don't worry. Of course I don't know you and for this I can't even tell. You could be even received as being to artifical, strange, arrogant, unsure, unexperienced, unemotional, pretty aso. Beside of anything else are HR people often looking for very experienced people who accept very low wages. If you are to nice then some women may even dislike you just because of this even if they wont ever tell. Please don't worry to much about it. You are not the only one who faces that s**t. Just try it somewhere else again and skip all self-doubts.

One question to ask is does the company have actual positions to fill? Many times Human Resources (HR) is accumulation candidates in case the company has positions to fill. HR will accept resumes and conduct interviews even if the company has no actual jobs at the moment. HR is like a middle man.

Your chances of landing a position goes up if you are actually speaking to managers within an organization. They are the ones that have real positions and many times they are desperate to fill them with good candidates.

When I graduated from college, I interviewed at 300 companies in person and sent out another 200 resumes. But I received no job offers. I actually kept a file of all my rejection slips. But then I almost by accident landed a job interview, obtained the job and worked for 40 years in a career before I retired. At the time I graduated, it was in the middle of a major recession and there were no jobs to be had. It really didn't have anything to do with me or my qualifications - it was just a lack of positions.

So words of advise.

1. Expand your search area. At the time I interviewed, there were no jobs on the West Coast of the U.S. but there were jobs on the East Coast. Had I known this I might have landed one quicker. There may even be job opportunities overseas.

2. When you interview for a position, do your research. Learn more about the company than the person conducting the interview. Figure out where you might fit into the organization and how your individual skills would be valuable.

3. If you are still in college, cultivate co-op or summer intern positions. They are a gateway to a permanent hire.

4. If you are out of college, work with the job placement office on campus to focus on recruitment.

5. I have heard that temporary positions are a route towards permanent employment. If you work as a temp for a company, they may also be trying you out, seeing what kind of employee you might make. If they like what they see, they might make a job offer.

The official word from any HR department would probably be something like, "Employment was awarded to the more qualified candidate."

I have failed so many interviews that I suspect these people to be able to be the strongest Normie Sensors on this planet. They are able to smell if something is only even slightly different or off in somebody. I don't trust them at all because of this. There is something seriously superficial about them too, I guess it is because they are looking for something "safe" to discuss with the general group.

I agree with you there. Thanks.

Perhaps it's a mix. In all honesty they probably are somewhat biased but the majority of why I don't get hired is merely someone was more qualified or b/c I'm still in college. Sadly the latter two are reasonable.

Could be one or two of those, or all. It's a numbers game to find a "cultural fit" (as HR says). My ASD friends (including myself) who are professionally employed, were employed by hiring managers or influential persons that were inclusive - saw our differences and wanted that. Ironically a company can be inclusive of some minorities and not others, and vice versa at another company. I completed 20 years of my career and have been severely discriminated against based on gender (ASD didn't help) three times (and microaggression almost chronically). My male ASD co-worker did not do as well as the NT men at my company (so he left and is doing better elsewhere), but did do better than all women (NT or ASD alike). My current region doesn't have many Asians, so there is one Asian person on my team and it was an inclusive manager who hired him (and me). When push came to shove, even he tried to pull rank on me. I strongly dislike hierarchies. Current management would not have hired either of us and they'd have had "valid" reasons. I hope you catch a break: find the great fit. I'm sorry there are not as many options for us - the good news is that when we do find a fit, I think we are much happier than all those NT wallowing in the jobs that couldn't accommodate us.