Equal opportunity in jobs

The Philippines is perhaps one of the countries I know that openly discriminate job seekers. And every time you flip through the classifieds, you will find that more than half of the jobs advertised require applicants to be at least no less than thirty years old or should be at least single. The funny thing is that, many of these companies look for those candidates with "pleasing personality" as if pageants or fashion shows are held every single day of their working lives.

Pharma companies have a reputation for this unethical practice. Let me give you an example I found in the Internet. It says: A Pharmaceutical Company is in need of Medical Representatives with the following qualifications: Female/Male; 21-28 years of age; Single; BS graduate with good scholastic records; Pleasing personality; Good in oral and written communication skills; Must be computer literate.

Of course, it's a company prerogative to single out the best candidates on the account of their transcript or skill. Nothing wrong with that. But what has age got to do with the job anyway? Does it make a representative any less effective to persuade a doctor to buy their drugs? Or does his or her being single help push the product any better? It makes me a little suspicious sometimes that drugs sold and bought by consumers may have been pushed on the merits of personalities [behind] than for their potency.   

Another bigoted practice that boldly stares you is when companies seek only those that come from "prestigious schools." All I thought that what matters is how you're schooled than the school itself is not always the case here. You see it is not unusual to find in the job pages singling out graduates from this and that university. Yet from my experience, those we get from the local "Ivy League" were the first to chicken out or whine when faced with challenging tasks.

Conversely, I've seen graduates coming from decrepit and unheard of colleges from the provinces and they may not be the typical blabber mouths as these local Ivy Leaguers are but many of them are equally hardworking and eager to learn.       

"Equal opportunity" in the Philippines exists but just a rhetoric statement flaunting in every company's brochure more than an applied philosophy or ethical business practice.

A friend of mine, who's by the way 63 years old got hired doing (believe it or not) forklift operations in Cincinnati two years ago. At his age, he bested the younger candidates for his experience both as a driver and a mechanic after his retirement from an arrastre firm in Cebu. You bet -- this guy doesn't stand an inch of a chance here if a similar opening comes out.

Makes me also a little curious how far our human resource practitioners have come to know the ethics or jurisprudence of such practices here and in other countries. Strangely, what I know is that, in the US you can't publish an ad if it violates or if it promotes pre-employment discrimination in which the penalties cover not only the advertiser but also the publisher. But what I don't know if there's a similar law to this. My guess is that there may be some laws in this country that need digging about pre-employment issues only our HRs maybe too afraid to lose their jobs if they insist to put those on as part of their hiring policies.       

Thanks to the internet, my research tells me that we have been among the oldest signatories to the International Convention Concerning Discrimination In Respect of Employment and Occupation since 1958. The Convention defines discrimination as "any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation. Recent improvements to the Convention also cover discrimination against persons with disabilities, civil status and pregnancy issues.

And my question is – is there an enabling law for this around here? 

But be that as it may, we know how distasteful or at best unethical this practice has long been with us yet we're sleeping on it all this time especially the DOLE which should have been the first to stand up against it to enforce the law.  

Such hiring practices speak of a dominant corporate culture that respects the Filipino human resource on the wrong, skin-deep and mundane credentials than on the merits of his competence, experience and intelligence. 

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I would like to greet my mother, Warnita, who will celebrate her birthday tomorrow. In behalf of your children, your children in laws and grand children, we wish you more birthdays to come. You may be a year older, but a year wiser! 

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