If you are like many sales professionals you may be looking for a new ‘home’ as a result of a number of reasons.  You may also be considering finding a job after the turn of the year, as it may be time.  If so, you undoubtedly recognize that the resume’ is the window to your qualifications, and even though it has it’s good and bad points as a tool, it is necessary.

That brings us to the notion that the resume is the ‘crow bar’ that opens a crack in the door to give you consideration and an interview. Without the resume’ a hiring manager or human resource representative will have no idea of your talents, or your ability to display them.  Which prompts the question ‘du jour’, should your resume’ be ‘race neutral’.

‘Race neutral’ is a term used frequently in education to describe the basis for educational policy that supposedly ignores race as a determining factor.  In this case, I am going to use ‘race neutral’ to indicate that your race is not disclosed.  Sometimes this might mean the ‘scrubbing’ the resume’ or other correspondence of determinants of race.

I know you are not going to ask why ‘race neutral’, but for those who might wonder I point again to the objective: Getting in front of the manager for an interview.  Once there you will at least be able to begin to showcase your values, your abilities, and the fact that you can work in that, and any other environment.

The Applicant Selection Process

As a process, a hiring manager or HR representative potentially sees hundreds of resume’s to fill one position.  Remember the first goal, which is to get in for a personal interview.  Your charm, skills, and ability to respond to questions and situations will be your tools, but you have to be able to showcase them.

If you follow some simple logic, many of these resumes are going into the ‘D’ stack, as they lack the basic qualifications that were advertised.  Some are going into the ‘B’ and ‘C’ stack as they have many of the qualifications, but are unlikely to be contacted, as there appears to be better candidates available.

Then there is the ‘A’ stack.  This stack has candidates who meet the basic qualifications, and have some points that create attraction to the reviewer.  As a reviewer you start at the top of the ‘A’ Stack and work downward.

Remember, the process of separating into stacks (A, B, C, and D) includes personal input on the part of the manager or HR representative.  This area of discretion is a “wild card” for the manager or HR rep.  You must end up in A, and hopefully at the top of it to get a strong opportunity to be interviewed.  I hope you see that almost anything can put you in the wrong stack, so don’t give anyone the excuse to put you there.

Here is where the perceptions, preference, and prejudice come in.

The Everpresent 3Ps (Perceptions, Preference, and Prejudice)

As I have described in previous posts of this journal (Black Sales Journal 12/30/2010, The 3Ps and Your Employer)  the 3Ps can have an effect, and sometimes an insidious effect on the hiring process.  It can happen without the perpetrator even really thinking about it.

Brief Definitions:

Perceptions are hard to change, and deep rooted.  They can come from many sources.  A person’s life experiences, the media, parents, friends, and the knowledge and ignorance of interaction or lack of interaction all form perceptions.  Perceptions are prevalent in all racial and ethnic groups.  We all have them; it is what we do with them that make all of the difference.  Managers have perceptions too!

Preferences are powerful.  They are not always meant to be deleterious to a particular racial group, yet have that effect when they are applied as the opportunity for fairness and equity is missed as the customer’s (in this case) preference is carried out.  The hiring manager’s desire of whom they want to work with is directly related to their relationship comfort.  Some preference may come from perceptions, and some from prejudice, but the net result is the same:  The sales professional who is capable is not interviewed because they don’t quickly meet the preference of the hiring manager.  Often it is because of a reluctance to do business with someone who is decidedly different than themselves.

Prejudice renders any situation difficult, if not impossible.  It should never be endorsed, whether it involves sales or any other endeavor.  Prejudice does change the landscape.  You probably won’t change it as you can do perceptions and preference, and you may be able to spend your time better elsewhere.  If a buyer is prejudice, the narrow-mindedness and patent unfairness will reduce, or destroy your chances of having a successful business relationship, or keep it very short lived.
Now, the simple fact is that any one of these Ps can change which stack you are in.  So at the risk of sounding over simplistic when it is to your advantage you should willingly disclose your race.  When you are in doubt, you should give consideration to ‘scrubbing’ your resume of racial indicators.

Of course there are times when you have no choice, and times such as job fairs when it will be obvious when you hand someone your resume, but in the overall, unless you suspect that it is an advantage, you should exercise discretion.

I am not saying don’t be proud of your race or the events and groups you were or are involved in.  I am saying that to give yourself the highest probability of an interview based on the logic that you have no idea of the background, preferences, or perceptions of the reviewer.

Your resume replete with work accomplishments should give a clear picture of everything necessary to compare to the other candidates.  It is a portrait of your qualifications, accomplishments, and job history and the reviewer should be enticed to move to the next step.

Sometimes it Takes Two

I am an advocate of having two resumes, or even more.  Each stressing what you need to stress, depending on the nuances of the job.  If that is the case, you can have a resume that is all-inclusive, which shows everything, as well as a resume that is ‘scrubbed’ and used when you want to show race neutrality in your solicitation effort.  There are some cases where you might be from a historically Black college or university where you would not want to consider any changes or scrubbing.  That is understood.

More than anything else you should take the time to frame yourself in the light you want to be seen.  It will increase your effectiveness in the long run.

Always be effective.

Your comments are welcome.

Invariably it will happen no matter what minority group you represent.  With all of the good customers in the world, there are some who just have no filter on what they should say.  Know how to deal with these situations.  Always be prepared!

___________________________________

Customers come from all walks of life, and certainly have their goods and bads, but we cannot live without them in the sales world.  They are human, and with that in mind, are capable of saying things that are subject to translation, and sometimes downright wrong and insulting.

This post covers how you might react to those comments, or better yet, how you might better react to those comments.  Remember, just as we stated in Black Sales Journal August 22,2011, Reacting to Improper Racial Comments from Co-workers and Black Sales Journal 8/29/2011, Reacting to Improper Racial Comments from Managers, which covered how you might react to statements from co-workers and from your manager, you have the right to react, I am just suggesting to you do so in a professional manner.

Just because someone is doing business with you does not mean that they can say things that are demeaning or even cruel without a formidable response.

Intent Does Count

Before we get deep into this, I would like to point out that intent does count.  I would like to explain that there are intentionally harmful racial comments that are made with malice, and racial comments that are made in ignorance.  Although neither of these should be considered acceptable, and they both probably warrant a reply, the requisite responses might need to differ.

Statements that are made because one is ignorant and unenlightened obviously have the same effect, yet have less gravity than a statement meant to harm by some one who is rude and insensitive.  Here are a couple of examples:

Statement A: During a business meeting your customer talked about safety in the area that his business is located. He says with a smile… “They say that one of your brothers pulled off the robbery of that fast food joint down the street last night.”

Statement B:  During a dinner entertainment session, your buyer indicates she needs to terminate a Hispanic employee “who is still wet from the swim across because of the new immigration laws.”

Both statements are offensive, and both deserve a response.  Which statement is, in your view, is the most racially charged?  How would you react to each of these?

Always be calculated in your response and consider the intent.  I will discuss how I would respond in a moment.  First I want to acquaint you with a personal situation and how I handled it.

A Personal Example

When I was in sales, many of my customers were owners of trucking companies.  This industry, like many others has people that say what is on their mind, and sometimes what is on their mind can be disparaging.  In the instance that I am about to cite, I definitely responded incorrectly the first time, by not responding.  When the second time came around, I think I definitely handled it in the correct manner.

I was on a call basically to deliver policies to the account and we got involved in a conversation about a driver who had generated a lower back workers compensation claim.  Everyone knows that lower back claims can be subjective, and tend to linger for long periods.

During the call my customer indicated that we should investigate the claim of Ben T.  He stated that he had reason to believe that Ben was malingering, and it was our job to get to the root of it and make sure that the claim was compensable, and that payments should be stopped until we knew for sure.  He then said, “You have a good work ethic, and I wish all of your people had that same work ethic.”

I was a 26 year old sales professional and initially, my response was to say nothing other than that I would check it out.  I thought I needed the client, and needed my money.  I realized within minutes that my response was wrong.  It kept me up at night for a little bit, and relived it several times.

When I returned to the customer location the following week, I explained to him the situation behind the back claim.  This individual was going to undergo surgery and his claim was legitimate to our people.  I then sat with him, looked him in the eye and said, “Respectfully Bob, I take offense to your comments last week about Ben T. and work ethic.”  He developed a puzzled look and quickly said, “I did not mean to offend you Michael.”  I then advised the following, “I know you did not mean to offend me, as we speak openly, yet you offended a whole community of people, of which I am one.  It would have been the same as if I said that you are special, but most of your people are drunkards (Bob was Irish).”

A light bulb went on in Bob’s head.  I could see it happen… enlightenment, that is.  Bob said, “Point taken, but we Irish like to drink!”  I quickly responded, “You do get my point, don’t you?”  We smiled and completed the meeting.

Back to Our Questions

Well, both situations are enough to of these statements are bothersome, and unfortunately situations like this happen in the workplace frequently.

Regarding Statement A:  This is the least charged, as this person is attempting to refer to a felon as a ‘brother’ presumably because we often call Black people ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’.  It should not have been said but you would not have to use a nuclear bomb on this one.  Your response should be simple and professional, “Respectfully, no one who would do that is a brother of mine.”  Remember, this is a customer.

Regarding Statement B: This is a racially charged statement.  You might hesitate to respond to it, yet the races are interchangeable in this case.  If you do not respond, I suppose you would be waiting until this customer got around to taking a ‘shot’ at African Americans  next.  An improper remark against any group or religion is an attack on your diversity.  Your response should be professional and impactful.  Something like, “Kristin, honestly I take offense to that statement.”  She knows it was wrong and if she is worth her salt she will not make another one like it.

Recognize your principals.  I am not saying that you should not work with a customer as much as you need to be true to yourself.

Always be true to yourself.  Always be the professional.

Your comments are appreciated.