I spent the weekend working on my husband’s resume and cover letter for a job that I want him to apply to. I always do his resume. He’s not that good at doing resume stuff , and I have a knack for it. But he’s an excellent interviewer and a hardworking, smart, people person. I always have to push him to go for a job, because even though he interviews well and always does great at his jobs, he lacks the motivation to go jobhunting. I think it’s because he doesn’t have a college degree. But so what? He’s in a good job now that requires a degree. Sure, it would've been an awesome accomplishment had he finished college (he did 3 years of it), but hey. Life happens. You get married. you have kids. There’s more to life than college (trust me on that one). And contrary to what the colleges (aka BIG BUSINESS) would have you believe, you don’t always need a 4 year degree to be successful and have a good job (I'm not talking about Doctors and the like in specialized fields).
I know this firsthand. in my 10 years at the current company i work for, i've seen people- women and black people passed over NICE promotions for a white male without a degree. i once applied for a promotion and was passed over for a handsome, white guy who had not been there nearly as long as i had and did not have a degree. go figure. if it had happened once, well, i would have chalked it up to excellent interviewing skills, or some potential in him they may have seen. but this happened over and over. so many of the promotions have been given to white males who i know have no college degree. what does that tell you?
a) the company's going to pot because of the inexperieced people in upper-management
b) it doesn't necessarily take a college degree to help run a company and work in upper management
c)white men are desireable in corporate america
d) all of the above.
the job my husband has now is good. it pays the bills and some. but there are issues, and i'd like to see him do something he'd have more fun in, and possibly more pay. he drags his feet when i tell him that maybe it's time to move on. he likes to be complacent. doesn't want to rock the boat. but i tell him all the time, corporate america wants him. from what i've seen, corporate america likes white men. they'd rather have a MAN for mainly patriarchal reasons, but a WHITE man must be like icing on the cake. oh- and don't let him be a good looking, tall white man, they're all over that.
so, is it wrong that i want my husband to use this to his advantage? i've specifically told him in the past that i knew he'd get a job that he didn't have all the qualifications for because he's a white man. he didn't seem to realize this little bit of information, ohhhh but i did. i always encourage him to apply for jobs even if they require more experience, credentials or education than what he has. because, it's really not about what you know. it's who you know and being white definitely helps. it's worked for him in the past. and the fact that he's tall can't hurt, either.
it's really not that far of a stretch.
5 comments:
From what is written, you have contempt for tall white men in management. Your husband is a tall white man, whom you pester about getting into management. Is it any wonder he resists you in this?
You are quite transparent in this area and your conflicted attitudes must cause you and some of those around you a lot of grief.
Perhaps you could think more about settling your internal demons before pushing your husband into something he doesn't want so he can earn more of your contempt.
Dayum you sound like my husband. He's not a white man but he has the same kinds of problems. His portfolio is quite impressive yet he has "problems" landing the REAL jobs in which he can easily command a $200K salary. It is so true that folks do hire who they are comfortable with and if the company is run by white males, why would they hire anyone else?
And that's about as much of Blink as I ever want to read.
It's a fascinating subject that the Book of Job covers pretty thoroughly, but it's Clint Eastwood's character in the 1992 classic western Unforgiven that cuts right to the heart of the matter: "Deserving's got nothin' to do with it."
It is entirely off base to suggest that your concerns and aspirations somehow betray a character flaw. Baloney. You are merely talking tactics. And, true, it is an unwritten rule that it certainly helps to be a tall, white male. It is also an unwritten rule that openly expressing a desire for money or status is gauche. It is also an unwritten rule that there's no excuse for not having a college education.
I think that we have based way to much on a liberal college education. We have lost a lot of our apprenticeship programs. Now we have people getting through college and off to a 6-figure salary. What happend to the days when you started at the bottom and worked your way up.
As far as men go, I can tell you that, we, often would prefer to earn a position rather than seek a position. What I mean is we would like to be noticed for our work and then promoted rather than to search for another job.
I went to college, well night school at least, with a guy who told me his definition of a conservative company. "All the vice presidents are married white males, over six feet tall, with a full head of hair" I know he should have said 'with full heads of hair' but you get the idea. That description is the stereotypical leader. Progressive organizations are a little more diverse but sometimes not as lucrative to work in, but I am glad I made the switch
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