Diversity - Talia's story
Posted: Thursday, May 20, 2010
by Rose-Marie Chaperon
Chaperon Consulting, LLC
As stated by Talia - Written by Rose-Marie
I am a third generation, politically democrat, but conservative Haitian-American, straight-from-the-shoulder woman, born and raised in Haiti. I came to the United States when I was in my 20's; I worked extremely hard in the sector of healthcare finance and worked my way up to a director level position. Last October 2008, I found myself unemployed after I left a company to take care of sick family member. Unfortunately, the family member passed, and I decided to search for other opportunities.
After my research on the facility, I wanted to work for that hospital because I thought it was a place, where I could achieve and grow professionally, without losing touch with reality. I also liked the idea of being in a big diverse city. I thought I could eat the foods and dance the dances of many different people because the city is a very diverse city, in other words a "melting pot".
I have discovered, however, that curiosity is not diversity. Dancing the dances and eating the foods is not diversity. When it was time for the face-to-face interview, the interview was scheduled. I flew to the area where I was met by someone from human resources who was my ride for the day. During the ride to the hotel, it came clear to me why the recruiter was asking all the personal questions. The human resources assistant stated "my goodness, I am so glad you are black!" I was so astonished to the fact I did not know what to say. The ride to the hotel ended being a very difficult one, all of the sudden I realized I was targeted for this job because I am a black woman. When it comes to race and ethnicity, I tend to be naive, because I never think of myself as being different from others. My gullibility allows me to think of myself as simply a woman with a very different speech pattern.
The next day, during the interview, I was very uncomfortable because I felt I was being interviewed for not only my experience, but also my skin color. The interview process made me feel sick to my stomach. The dreadful day of racial and cultural remarks, which in their views were supposed to make me feel good made me feel repulsive. In closing with the hiring manager, she extended me a verbal offer for the position, while making these remarks. "I am so glad not only you are qualified, on the same token you fit the profile we are looking for" I asked her what profile was that? Of course she was more than happy to share with me, that they needed an African-American woman to fill the position. I kindly told her that I would have to think about the offer and get back to her.
The following day, I contacted the recruiter who so gracefully explained to me the criteria they were looking for: When the recruiter received the job order from the hospital, it read as follow: this hospital is located in a predominantly black city in the United States, the Patient Access staff is made of 98% African-American, 1% middle-eastern and 1% Latino. We are looking for someone the staff can relate to, she must be black, preferably a single parent with a minimum of 5 years experience in management.
How did I miss all these red flags? Where did I go wrong? Why does this hospital want to hire me because I am black? Why are they looking for a person who looks just like 98% of the staff? Why can't the staff relate to a Caucasian, Middle-Eastern, and Latino person and so on? To simply put it, why can't they work with the best person for the job! As much as the offer sounded very tempting as far as salary wise, my moral values would not allow me to accept the position. The value of diversity in my education and in my life finally became clear to me only after having many of these sorts of experiences. Because I have experiences unique to the groups with whom I am affiliated does out me on top of the list. I did not feel comfortable working for that facility, I recognize that no problem is ever isolated within one group of people; I am personally invested in matters of concern to groups other than my own.
Diversity is a multi-part citizenship: of smaller communities that define identity, of the hospital, of the nation, and of the world. I realize that this is something that is needed in America. In America, I don't need to give up whom I am to be a person or get hired. I don't have to choose between being Haitian and being Haitian-American, between being secular or religious and being conservative or liberal. Affiliation does not mean separation. Distinctions among people ensure that we can approach life with a full palate of perspectives. This is the value of diversity for me. And besides, I do not like race labels, I prefer to be call "a woman of good moral character values and integrity"
This Article has been viewed 333 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.