Publications
Partners
"Preference will be given to BEE candidates." Isn't that just a great line, especially if YOU are 'BEE'?
I'm not going to debate BEE - in all its twisted logic and destruction of South Africa's myth of racial unity - but rather the level of damage that lines like the above, penned by HR people, actually does.
Firstly, who exactly is a 'BEE candidate'? Why don't these recruiters just come out and say 'Blacks (if that's what they want - or where do Indians and Coloureds fall)?
One thing I can't stand in South Africa is that everybody is willing to talk about 'whites', but white people never like saying 'black'. We've amazingly progressed into a post 'black-pride' era, where 'whiteness' has now been thoroughly stigmatised, and there is no real clarity on where other races fall.
Secondly, why is it even *necessary* to state this? Is this a legal requirement, a badge of BEE pride, or some narrow-minded HR professionals just repeating a catchphrase mindlessly?
Maybe it's designed to attract applications from skilled black candidates, or subtly tell white people 'Don't bother, our BEE scorecard can't afford you'? Whatever it is, it should be left off ... it just creates an unnecessary reminder for white South Africans about just how ridiculous things have become in our country.
If white guys apply for a job that employers only want black candidates for, so what? Their applications can just be ignored like those of 90% of other applicants are anyway, and because they make up a minority of the population there won't even be that many of them to ignore.
No need to rub their noses in it, is there? Yes, it's come to that: you ignore me except where you can benefit from me; if that's all you want me for I'll ignore you as far as possible, and welcome to our divergent spectrum nation.
.
I'm not going to debate BEE - in all its twisted logic and destruction of South Africa's myth of racial unity - but rather the level of damage that lines like the above, penned by HR people, actually does.
Firstly, who exactly is a 'BEE candidate'? Why don't these recruiters just come out and say 'Blacks (if that's what they want - or where do Indians and Coloureds fall)?
One thing I can't stand in South Africa is that everybody is willing to talk about 'whites', but white people never like saying 'black'. We've amazingly progressed into a post 'black-pride' era, where 'whiteness' has now been thoroughly stigmatised, and there is no real clarity on where other races fall.
Secondly, why is it even *necessary* to state this? Is this a legal requirement, a badge of BEE pride, or some narrow-minded HR professionals just repeating a catchphrase mindlessly?
Maybe it's designed to attract applications from skilled black candidates, or subtly tell white people 'Don't bother, our BEE scorecard can't afford you'? Whatever it is, it should be left off ... it just creates an unnecessary reminder for white South Africans about just how ridiculous things have become in our country.
If white guys apply for a job that employers only want black candidates for, so what? Their applications can just be ignored like those of 90% of other applicants are anyway, and because they make up a minority of the population there won't even be that many of them to ignore.
No need to rub their noses in it, is there? Yes, it's come to that: you ignore me except where you can benefit from me; if that's all you want me for I'll ignore you as far as possible, and welcome to our divergent spectrum nation.
.
