Interview Learning to Listen Is Very Important

¶ … Interview Learning to listen is very important especially when one is conducting an interview. Listening helps a lot especially when it comes to understanding one another. When I carried out an interview of an African-American woman it really changed my perception on opportunities that are available for women. This is a reflection on what I learned about the perceptions people have when it comes to occupational preferences at a very early age.

I got the opportunity of interviewing a black American woman and really wanted to find out some of the challenges that she faces when it comes to getting opportunities as a result of her membership of her cultural group. She clearly stated that it was quite difficult for her to secure employment due to the stereotype that there are opportunities that are meant specifically for men while others are meant for women. Feminine occupations are underrepresented among the jobs that are perceived as being high status occupations.

This means that it is very difficult to find women occupying these jobs which are termed as being high status (Wilkerson, 2012). The preference of women to these so called women occupation is a fact that has increased this stereotype and created a clear distinction between occupations meant for men and those meant for women. Both men and women express an interest in sex-typed occupations .this means that since time there are some occupations that have been labeled for men while others have been labeled for women.

The interviewee was very categorical when she stated that she has out rightly missed out on some opportunities owing to the fact that she is a woman. She stated that there are some places when she goes looking for employment she is told that she can not be employed because they believe that she can not handle the tasks involved because she is a woman.an example that she gave me was that she went looking for a truck driver job.

This is because she enjoys driving so much and would like to explore the driving of big machines like trucks. When she went for the interview she was the only lady among ten men. All of them were looking at her as if she was at the wrong place.in fact one of them went ahead to ask if she was lost and needed direction but she answered confidently that she was at the right place. The men burst out laughing and they started making fun of her.

When she was telling me this I felt really sorry for her. Why should she face humiliation just because she is a lady? Why were these men so mean to her and she was a human being just like them? Why did they think that she was at the wrong place? All these actions were so wrong. They should not have questioned the interviewee in such a manner to suggest that the position she was applying is only meant for men.

As Janie V.W (n.d:90), this woman was suffering the racial socialization that is perpetuated in the American society and other societies elsewhere, where roles are defines by others and it is expected that they are followed. From the interview I learnt so much in terms of gender discrimination when it comes to job opportunities (Smith Pegues, 2013). The lady I was interviewing could be very much suited for the position but the fact that she is a lady disqualifies her from getting that opportunity. I cannot deny.