Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 11:17     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:Coming (as I do) from a no-majority city with lots of immigrants from around the world, the lack of integration in federal offices in the DMV is totally shocking. Where I used to work, you rarely saw any more than two people from the same group in any office. People from all backgrounds socialized together at lunchtime and after work. Where I work now it's 90% white men (in the power roles) and 90% black women (administrative). The lunchroom looks like 1950.

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not thinking about how to get back home. Sadly, DH's career is here for now...


This is the way it was when I entered the workforce 25 years ago. I got a clerk typist position at a federal agency to work my way through school and it was a real shock to me. The greater shock is that it's still that way today. Not just in the lunch room, but at senior-level staff meetings you'll see all the minorities clustered together.

Everyone looks out for their own. It's not so much racism as it is the seemingly insignificant little decisions and judgments that are influenced by perceptions, and perception is influenced by the natural affinity we all have for people who look like ourselves.

People talk about merit, and I applaud that, but you'd have to raze the entire thing to the ground and start from scratch to make that happen. "Merit" can be arranged, and as long as you have people who are sitting in power positions because of such arrangements, that will continue. You don't have to be fair and equitable in the federal government, you just have to look like you are.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 09:53     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Slow clap with a side of eye roll,OP.

We don't usually get race baiting trolls in the jobs forum.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 09:10     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:Hiring is rarely based on merit, it is in the old boys network, social game


Exactly, you can learn on the job even at a 13.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 08:58     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:My fed organization, DoD, federal procurement field, is largely African-American. The hiring managers are AA and they tend to hire other AAs. Many of them are in the same fraternities and sororities, hiring those from their same houses. It is sad, because we are not hiring based on merit.


HaHa. I am at DON and it is just the opposite. All these anecdotes on this thread.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 07:24     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Hiring is rarely based on merit, it is in the old boys network, social game
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 07:15     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:My fed organization, DoD, federal procurement field, is largely African-American. The hiring managers are AA and they tend to hire other AAs. Many of them are in the same fraternities and sororities, hiring those from their same houses. It is sad, because we are not hiring based on merit.


This is my issue, too.

I don't care with whom I work - as long as the people around me are smart, qualified, and know how to handle their job duties.

But I've been in on interviews where candidates were hired b/c of their minority status. Their credentials were not as impressive, and many (not all) ended up leaving b/c they were not fully prepared to manage their day-to-day duties - blame education or lack of experience.

On the flip side, I've seen some qualified whites who were so arrogant that they failed at their jobs, too.

Just hire the right person for the right job. Why is this rocket science?

My boss, who's AA, told me there's power in being a minority! can't disagree on some levels
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 06:56     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Coming (as I do) from a no-majority city with lots of immigrants from around the world, the lack of integration in federal offices in the DMV is totally shocking. Where I used to work, you rarely saw any more than two people from the same group in any office. People from all backgrounds socialized together at lunchtime and after work. Where I work now it's 90% white men (in the power roles) and 90% black women (administrative). The lunchroom looks like 1950.

There isn't a day that goes by that I'm not thinking about how to get back home. Sadly, DH's career is here for now...
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 06:49     Subject: Re:So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's not racist to acknowledge that the government has hiring preferences for minorities. My husband, who has been a senior government employee, has been told multiple times that positions are reserved for women and minorities. Luckily, he is in the private sector and thriving well. When the government people contact him asking for suggestions for possible appointees, though, they now almost always specify they are seeking women and minorities. I am all for diversity, but this has really gone too far.


I honestly don't know what the real data show about hiring, but at my HHS division (which shall remain nameless) it's primarily white women who are promoted. White men are a more rare breed, so they're usually fawned over and pushed forward as well. Yes, there are a lot of minority women who are public health analysts, but the perception is that they hit a glass ceiling at GS 12/13. I've seen people with 15 years experience and multiple advance degrees, just stuck at 13 and getting bypassed by women who are only 4-5 years out of grad school.

There may be a priority given to diversity hiring, but trust me when I say that the diverse hires (whether it's race or disability) usually get dropped from further consideration once they're in the door. They get marginalized and/or forced out fairly regularly. Not much diversity in the leadership positions at all.

You do need to have something impressive beyond a degree to get in the door, however. I would have to agree with others who surmise the OP is lacking in other areas.


I also work for an HHS agency and noticed this as well. Maybe we are coworkers


Probably. The disrimination is so real and obvious that it's a little embarrassing.
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 05:48     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ladies and gentleman please...please...try and understand...

These are very different times nowadays and white people are frightened because they now find themselves in a very unfamiliar position.

For the first time since they stepped foot on this continent and claimed it as their own based on the arrogant assumption that they were somehow superior to the indigenous peoples already here, white people are now forced to face the frightening reality that the spoils and successes they automatically assumed because of their European ancestry are no more and the "golden ticket" to power and privilege they unequivocally presumed because of their pale skin isn't worth shit in the 21st century.

So ladies and gentleman please...please...show some sympathy and compassion for white people. This is going to be a difficult adjustment for many of them.


The white people you see today are not the same people who "stepped foot on this continent and claimed it as their own."

But they are still reaping the benefits ... Institutionalized discrimination... Guess you don't get that do you???
That does not mean all white people are racist , not at all.
It means that the playing field has been set up to favor them.
Do you not see that?
Anonymous
Post 01/10/2014 04:02     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:My fed organization, DoD, federal procurement field, is largely African-American. The hiring managers are AA and they tend to hire other AAs. Many of them are in the same fraternities and sororities, hiring those from their same houses. It is sad, because we are not hiring based on merit.


We see too many of those cases in DC. It is sad, but no one dares to point it out.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2014 23:58     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:My fed organization, DoD, federal procurement field, is largely African-American. The hiring managers are AA and they tend to hire other AAs. Many of them are in the same fraternities and sororities, hiring those from their same houses. It is sad, because we are not hiring based on merit.


I believe this is true and I'm sure whites would do this as well if the opportunity was there. However, if an office has a person in mind they could just tell the hiring managers to select that particular person given that they made the cert.
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2014 23:54     Subject: Re:So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It's not racist to acknowledge that the government has hiring preferences for minorities. My husband, who has been a senior government employee, has been told multiple times that positions are reserved for women and minorities. Luckily, he is in the private sector and thriving well. When the government people contact him asking for suggestions for possible appointees, though, they now almost always specify they are seeking women and minorities. I am all for diversity, but this has really gone too far.


I honestly don't know what the real data show about hiring, but at my HHS division (which shall remain nameless) it's primarily white women who are promoted. White men are a more rare breed, so they're usually fawned over and pushed forward as well. Yes, there are a lot of minority women who are public health analysts, but the perception is that they hit a glass ceiling at GS 12/13. I've seen people with 15 years experience and multiple advance degrees, just stuck at 13 and getting bypassed by women who are only 4-5 years out of grad school.

There may be a priority given to diversity hiring, but trust me when I say that the diverse hires (whether it's race or disability) usually get dropped from further consideration once they're in the door. They get marginalized and/or forced out fairly regularly. Not much diversity in the leadership positions at all.

You do need to have something impressive beyond a degree to get in the door, however. I would have to agree with others who surmise the OP is lacking in other areas.


I also work for an HHS agency and noticed this as well. Maybe we are coworkers
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2014 22:53     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:Ladies and gentleman please...please...try and understand...

These are very different times nowadays and white people are frightened because they now find themselves in a very unfamiliar position.

For the first time since they stepped foot on this continent and claimed it as their own based on the arrogant assumption that they were somehow superior to the indigenous peoples already here, white people are now forced to face the frightening reality that the spoils and successes they automatically assumed because of their European ancestry are no more and the "golden ticket" to power and privilege they unequivocally presumed because of their pale skin isn't worth shit in the 21st century.

So ladies and gentleman please...please...show some sympathy and compassion for white people. This is going to be a difficult adjustment for many of them.


The white people you see today are not the same people who "stepped foot on this continent and claimed it as their own."
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2014 22:33     Subject: So many minorities in the government
Anonymous wrote:My agency is having a tough time keeping younger hires, so please come apply. You do, however, have to have a PhD in economics.

What's your agency?
Anonymous
Post 01/09/2014 19:49     Subject: So many minorities in the government
My agency is having a tough time keeping younger hires, so please come apply. You do, however, have to have a PhD in economics.