Okay, Mr. Status Quo...

>Contacting them just looks desperate and won't get you anywhere.

Actually, it's having a social conscience and actually attempting to correct what is obviously a sloppy professional environment. If you wish to "work" in that sloppy "professional" environment, then that is your choice...or privilege, depending on whether or not you are in "the in crowd", eh? Of course, there are those who prefer that no one complain and shut up about the discrimination and other abuses in our society...

Frankly, I've seen an Irish national hired rather than hire a well qualified African American woman...in violation of the labor laws here in the U.S. It was discrimination AND an illegal hiring of a foreign national ta boot! In any case, the woman sued...I was a short term contractor so I wasn't aware of what followed after that...but I hope she got 7 figures out of those *sses!

Further, there are many folks who can tell stories about getting hired as go-getters for bringing problems at a company to the attention of senior management. Of course, obviously not at any company you, Giovanni, is part of, right?

>Sorry for being blunt, but, in my opinion and experience, they moved on.

Yeah, they moved on...but just because they did doesn't make it right--it is SLOPPY PROFESSIONALISM. Nor, frankly, would it be tolerated...if there weren't folks, who should know better, wandering around patting people on the head and always recommending that people try some where else..."no, sorry, you're just not right for this job" is better than just saying [nothing]...because that's even more passive-aggressive, isn't it? It's kind of like, "oh, we're too lazy to tell you why we're not hiring you" and "as professionals, we have no responsibility to respond to any reasonable request" and "gosh, I just don't want to work with that person...oops! I lost their paperwork again! Silly me...oh well, wish I cared"...but you never really can know...because our HR "are professionals".

>Contacting BoD and CEOs it's desperation with a hint of derangement.

Taking action to get work and to demonstrate and adherence to professionalism, egalitarianism, and enforcement of the fair employment practices is "desperation with a hint of derangement" in your book, eh? In otherwords, you don't like or appreciate people who rock your boat.

In my experience, I have seen jobs relisted after I seemed like a shoe-in (second and third interviews) and no call back from them. I did call to ask why I wasn't considered and it turns out that it was me. They had written me off due to salary requirements and my qualifications... They thought I had asked for the right salary for my qualifications and they just didn't want to ask me to take lesser salary for a job that I was overqualified for.

We did go through a round of negotiations where we tried to come up with a way for it work (shorter work week, more benefits, gym membership across the street, additional duties for greater pay) but in the end, it didn't work out.

So, I was >this< close to at least POSITIVE validation regarding my job search and if I hadn't called back, I wouldn't have had that. Would have just felt smaller and smaller wondering why I was not worthy of a call back. I also asked for advice on how to handle this if it came up with other job interviews, and they just advised to do what I had done: persist and communicate.

So, I offer that back here.

>Was the post about abuses and discrimination?

Are there and do folks, even HR folks, not get hired because of them?

Look, I expect that the people reading what I write won't go "gee, I think I'll throw out what I know about a situation and follow this guy's advice! Yeah, it must be that I'm being discriminated against! Better pursue that!"...especially someone who is being hired for an HR position. However, to deny that this is a major problem in hiring practices, that is, age, sex, racial, and religious discrimination means...to me...that you don't consider it to be that an important an issue. In the corporate world, I can count at least four or five times where hiring folks broke various laws around this area...and I'm a white male. So, um, imagine what it's like if you are not a white male trying to work for a "mainstream" company? Seriously, I worked at one of the most "liberal" companies and it was still messed up a lot of the time...because management and, sadly, HR, perpetuated a culture where it was not dealt with.

Again, here is a list of what I witnessed in less than a decade of working at an F500 company (liberal):

1. Asked whether I was a Christian during an interview for a job I did not get. The HR "contractor" (see, they got a contractor to ask the questions they legally couldn't) asked me what I did on my Sunday mornings and talked about how much she liked to go to Church and that maybe I should try going to church.

2. Told that we would be interviewing for an African American to "get HR off our back" and that we should just "hire the first one you interview..." without regard to qualification; a violation of company policy...and needless...since I was aware of several candidates who were very likely qualified. Rather than interview people properly, management was ready to simply hire anyone who got HR off management's back...very annoying.

3. The African American woman I mentioned above. She had eight years of experience, interveiwed for a job she was well qualified for, was turned down, and an Irish national was hired instead of her. Several laws were broken there, big time. Sadly, I lost a friendship I'd been building with her as we'd been contractors working on parallel projects; her lawyer told her not to talk to anyone from work until her case was settled...and, frankly, I wouldn't blame her or her lawyer for being pissed off at all of us...this was the group she'd given a lot to as a contractor. That incident really opened my eyes to just how abusive racism and bigotry are in even "liberal" American companies.

4. Being told that official company interviewing practices didn't need to be followed (which were good practices) because "I know the guy". In that instances, I should have mentioned the violation of the interviewing rules to HR but >I< was trying to get along with management at the time...

That's the four that jump to mind at the moment...

Now, of course, if you are going to work in an environment, your first thought should be...is it right for me. But, if your final thought is "gee, that wasn't fair", well, true, life isn't fair...but there are laws and rules, supposedly corporate interviewing procedures and handbooks, and they attempt to make things fairer...and if no one bothers to try to enforce them, enforce accountability, then, well, all the platitudes, and laws, and rules aren't worth a hill of beans...and a lot of crappy people do a lot of crappy things because, generally, people don't bother to follow up.