Position your resume correctly on job boards and Bias at work

The MTSG View

On business, the workplace
and employee relations

October, 2007

Lessons from Religious Bias Claims

Imagine you run a tech-support company and a technician refuses to assist a client that manufactures violent computer-software games because it would violate her faith as a devout Christian You tell her that no other accounts have available openings, yet she still objects What would you do?



Or suppose you have a dress code policy for employees of your restaurant chain that doesn't permit visible tattoos One worker refuses to comply because his religion requires that he keep his tattoos exposed How would you respond?



They aren't simple situations and, in fact, both are now court cases They're examples of a rise in workplace conflicts involving employers and employees' religious beliefs In 2006 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received 2,541 claims of religious discrimination in the workplace, up nearly 50 percent from 10 years earlier Additionally, the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding in New York reports that 66 percent of employees have witnessed "evidence of religious bias at work"



A recent article in The Conference Board Review, the publication of the Conference Board research organization in New York, looks at how companies have handled difficult religious cases of late In each, employers are faced with protecting their own interests without impinging upon the religious beliefs of their staffs



The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits religious discrimination in the workplace and requires employers to permit religious expression unless it becomes an "undue hardship" on the business But what is an "undue hardship?" Perhaps the need to hire another employee because of someone's religious beliefs



With the war in Iraq, one might think the increase in religious discrimination claims would primarily involve Muslims But the Conference Board article "Workers' Rites" includes other faiths The cases reviewed include Christian employees who object to a firm's diversity training dealing with gays and lesbians; a Mormon who refuses to go for drinks with clients; and a member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church who said joining a union violate his faith



In the case of the technician who refused to work on violent video games, she was fired by her company The employee sued and a court settlement required the employer to pay her $80,000 and implement a religious accommodation policy

As for the restaurant employee with the tattoos, the company offered him a job involving no public contact When he refused he was fired He sued, claiming that his religion only allowed him to conceal his tattoos one month out of the year A consent decree ultimately settled the case, with the company paying the employee $150,000 and the employee taking another job elsewhere

Resume SEO 101

There was a time when including the key words "Pamela Anderson" on a website was a proven strategy to move it up in search engine results, even if the former Bay Watch star had absolutely nothing to do with the site When it comes to giving your resume more prominence on resume databases that probably wouldn't be the best approach



But that doesn't mean there aren't other search engine optimization basics you should use to help yourself when employers go hunting on job boards The right key words can move you closer to the top and not buried on page umpteen Try following these few SEO tips:



Find the right words Spend some time reading job postings for the type of work you want Many of them probably include similar words and phrases Those are the hooks you should use But don't limit yourself Include variations of those words among your key words, such as marketing, market and "marketing communications"



Maximize their usage - sensibly You could try to have your resume noticed by flooding your text with a handful of key words But not only do search engine algorithms guard against such abuses these days, your resume would sound pretty redundant The idea is to use your key words frequently, but not excessively Work them into a description of your skill set and highlights of your experience, but not to the point where it's limiting what you say about yourself



Try the Textalyser We came across a site that provides a great way to determine how frequently you're using your keywords Textalyser, found at http://wwwtextalysernet/ is a free online text analysis site After you've redone your resume including your key words, copy the text and paste it in to a window provided at Textalyser Hit "Analyze the text" and you'll get a report on the number of times your key words appear It's a lot faster than counting them by hand

The Solicitor and the Job Board

While job seekers should try and make their resumes as attractive to employers as possible, a red caution flag was waived last month by Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin He filed a civil complaint against Morgan Stanley and two of its Boston employees, accusing them of "dishonest" practices for allegedly using a job-search Internet site to find sales prospects According to Galvin, employees at Morgan Stanley used resumes they obtained through Careerbuildercom to make cold-calls, a violation of federal and state do-not call laws



What's particularly troubling is that the resume's were "chock-full of valuable information, such as employment history (suggesting potential sources of 401k transfers), recent salary levels and vital contact information, such as cell phone telephone numbers, that might not otherwise be published," according to the complaint



It's hard to have a complete resume that doesn't include employment history and contact information Though companies typically contract with job boards to use data from resumes for hiring purposes only, the allegations against Morgan Stanley highlight the fact that abuses can occur Never post your Social Security number and be aware of scammers that go "phishing" for your private information by using phony job boards Also, think about defensive steps you could take during a job search, such as setting up a temporary email address

Up, Up, Up

Wall Street may have its up and downs but the employment trend in the staffing industry is a fairly steady up Nearly three million workers held temporary jobs in the second quarter, about 3,000 more than in the second quarter of 2006, according to the American Staffing Association That's a new record for second quarter employment On a quarter-to-quarter basis, staffing employment gained 48 percent in the second quarter over the first More impressive, staffing firms are doing their part to help fill jobs requiring high-skill levels, at a time when there is a shortage of qualified workers

HR Blog Watch

Evil HR Lady (http://evilhrladyblogspotcom/ ) A Fortune 500 HR professional who has fired and hired and done her best to deal with the Finance Dept offers her thoughts