A discussion has flared up again on Threads about how objectively Ukrainian IT companies hire specialists. This time, the reason was a post by an IT professional who claims that she was rejected for a team lead position due to «irrelevant experience,» but a younger man’s almost identical resume suddenly caught the attention of recruiters.
A discussion has flared up again on Threads about how objectively Ukrainian IT companies hire specialists. This time, the reason was a post by an IT professional who claims that she was rejected for a team lead position due to «irrelevant experience,» but a younger man’s almost identical resume suddenly caught the attention of recruiters.
As Anastasia @it_kawa wrote in Threads, she applied for a team lead position at a large Ukrainian company, but was rejected the very next day. According to the author of the post, the reason seemed strange, because she was told about allegedly irrelevant experience, although she was applying for a leadership role.
«I sent my resume to a large Ukrainian company for the position of team leader, and I received a rejection the next day with a text that my experience was irrelevant.»
After that, she decided to test how the same self-presentation would work if the gender and age of the candidate were changed. For the experiment, she says, she created a resume for a man who was 10 years younger, had less programming experience, but had the same management background and skill set.
«I created a resume for a man 10 years younger, with less programming experience, but with the same management experience, with the same skills, and he was invited for an interview. Very interesting)»
It was this difference in reaction to two similar profiles that sparked a discussion in the comments. Some users saw the story as a possible discrimination against women in hiring, others drew attention to the candidate’s age, and still others wrote that the problem could be broader and relate to a general decline in the quality of recruiting.
For example, user @swan.9807492 cited her own case, in which, according to her, the decision was also made not only on the basis of professional indicators. She claims that she applied for the same position together with a male colleague, but the choice was also not made in her favor.
«Oh, sister! My colleague and I applied for the same position. We had the same experience, KPI. But they took him because, you see, I can go on maternity leave. And I was even unmarried at that time! By the way, the guy worked in the position for 3 months and was lured to another company. That’s it.»
A separate thread in the discussion was opened by user @enigmvc. He did not deny that bias can exist, but emphasized that the hiring process itself often works poorly in general, regardless of the gender of the candidate. In his opinion, recruiting in many companies has slowed down, and candidates regularly face formal, impersonal rejections instead of honest explanations of the reasons.
«I’ll start with the fact that hiring is currently **stupid, for both men and women. And the quality of recruitment has dropped. I talked to a recruiter, we met on vibes, heard each other’s requests, and then 3 days later I get an impersonal reply saying „we closed the position“, even though they were looking for 2 people and it was more profitable for them to take two yesterday’s students than a guy with experience. Well, to be honest, humane — you need to include corporate speech immediately.»
At the same time, the same commentator also expressed the controversial opinion that STEM allegedly remains a more male-dominated field and that individual teams may find it easier to work with men.
Another user, @elen.taya, offered a different explanation and directly called the situation ageism.
«Ageism, as it is. It’s a common situation. If the majority of the team is Zoomers, they don’t want to collaborate with millennials.»
At the same time, there were those in the discussion who urged not to rush to final conclusions. User @andy.glumov noted that two almost identical resumes could simply have ended up with different people at the initial selection stage. In his opinion, the problem could have remained at the HR filter level and not reached the technical team.
«I wonder what the situation is… it’s possible that your resume and „yours“ were viewed by two different people»
Anastasia’s post turned into more than just a story about one strange rejection, but a broader conversation about how IT hiring works today. The comments mixed several topics at once: possible sexism, ageism, formal recruiting, faceless rejections, and subjectivity at the stage of the first review of the resume. That is why this case hit hard in the experience of many candidates, who also do not always understand why some are eliminated immediately, while others with a very similar profile are passed on.
Previously, dev.ua wrote about how store salesman Andriy Gumenyuk wrote in Threads that after stories about «$8k per month at 25,» he feels inferior and doesn’t understand how to change the field without a financial cushion. His post provoked a discussion in the comments: IT professionals argued about how realistic such a salary is and what usually stands behind the high-profile figures.
