Today I had a “job assessment” in the hospitality field (a field is that is generalized for hiring only “young, hot” people as some of my peers would say–I beg to differ. It takes a lot more than good looks and a nice ass to serve drinks and food. Trust me!)

This job assessment took me about 45 minutes which was something I was not prepared to do. I just thought, “Oh go in and meet the lady. Then back to school.” No, that didn’t happen.

I was kind of annoyed with this assessment because this could have been done on the internet (if they had this set up). Yet, when I returned to school and shared my experiences, much of my peers simply stated, “They probably just wanted to see you or meet you.” I interpret that as “an assessment of my physical character” rather than what I am actually capable of doing. Am I wrong?

Maybe. Maybe not.

The assessment made me feel quite uncomfortable for several reasons.

1. It was really long
2. The answer sheet was totally inconvenient (I would have had to been wearing my glasses which I didn’t bring)
3. There were questions relating to words that I have never EVEN seen before (and I am in university AND worked in the legal field which has a lot of “big” words LOL)
4. Finally, there was a box that said “you can answer these questions voluntarily.”

In the box, there were three questions. One related to gender, another to race, and finally one relating to age category. The age category had the option “less than 40” or “40+”. The box also stated something along the lines of, “Your decision to answer these questions won’t affect you being hired.” I just kept thinking, “What they hell? If these questions/answers do not affect me being hired, then why the hell would you put them in there?!” Nobody asks a questions, especially a potential employer, without trying to affect your capability of being hired.

What did I do? I answered the questions.

Now I feel like as if I should not have because what if being “American Indian/Alaskan Native” instead “Mixed race” (which was the box I was going to pick), might affect my capabilities? I may be jumping the gun a bit here.

In the end, my only ultimate thought/questions was/is, what was/is the purpose of this box? Thoughts?

PS. And if my “potential employer” or ANY potential employer sees this, I suggest that you remove that box because I am probably not the only who felt this way.