Equality bytes

There’s an interesting oxymoron involved in applying for employment in the United States. Well, there’s a ton of them, but today I’m going to talk about this one: the Equal Employment Opportunity questions.

Employers have to report data to the Feds on percentages of employees of various racial/ethnic groups, sexes and disabilities; also whether you’re a veteran (of the Armed Forces) or not.

Interestingly, I’ve recently seen more than two choices for sex (or gender, as they politely like to refer to it these days), especially for companies around the Bay Area. It’s nice to have options.

Now, while it’s mandatory that employers report this information, it’s voluntary for applicants to supply it. I routinely check the “decline to state” boxes. They try various ways to trick you into giving the data, but there has to be an option to refuse to “self-identify”.

Now, here’s the oxymoron:

The drop-downs for each of those categories is a required field. So it’s mandatory that you respond to it, even when your response is “none of your dag-blamed business.”

So, I don’t really know how accurate that EEO data is on a national level. I just know that they’re going to have to interview me in person to make any guesses about my particulars.