Women are being subtly
discriminated against in job interviews, according to British Psychological
Society research.
City University’s Dr
Jo Silvester, author of the research, monitored the type of questions
interviewers asked male and female job candidates looking for graduate-level
positions in a multinational organisation. She found that men were given more
opportunity to shine by being asked more open questions.
She said, "The
opportunity for talking and selling themselves was not as frequent for women as
it is for men. That means women have to try harder."
Women were better at
face-to-face interviews, but worse in phone interviews.
She urged HR
departments to look carefully at the way managers interviewed job candidates.
"We are unlikely to understand how discrimination occurs until we consider
what is actually said and how it is said during a selection interview,"
she said.