SEAHO Report - Fall 2019 - 32

SEAHO Feature Articles
Natasha
Something I wanted any candidate to know after interacting with me or my team from UNCG was that we were
not looking for four new Coordinator for Residence Life candidates who were identical or similar to the four
that had previously left. While packing my suitcase for TPE, I thought critically about what I would be wearing
to not just represent my department, but how I would also be expressing myself as a White, cisgender, Queer
woman with a lot of tattoos, piercings, and a quirky haircut while living in the South. I remembered going
through my job search just last year and eagerly looking through department photos to see if I could make any
inference on a department's stance on visible tattoos in the workplace-- Would my professional character be
judged immediately because of how I express myself? I did not want a candidate to feel the way I felt in those
moments and took it upon myself to take any opportunity that I could to ensure at least two of my tattoos were
showing at all times and the multiple piercings in my ears were on display.
From the other side of the table, this also made me consider how I perceived and judged candidates on the larger
scale of social identity.
* Was I imposing my own expectations and experiences of Whiteness onto them?
* How were my perceptions clouded by my own privilege, particularly my Whiteness and cisgenderism?
Recognizing that I had been highly groomed and privileged going through a job search, I began to think
critically about the ways I evaluated candidates who most likely did not have the same privileged experiences
that I had. Recognizing that any person of color who I interviewed was possibly code-switching and/or
censoring themselves because Whiteness serves as the foundation for "professionalism." And in those settings,
I represented the systems of White supremacy that dominate our society today. As a White person who
could determine their status in our recruitment process, I critically analyzed responses, body language, and
experiences to ensure I was not centering my feedback or expectations around my stocks of knowledge and
inherent racism that have been informed by Whiteness my entire life.
This led me to engage in personal reflection more frequently throughout interviews during The Placement
Exchange, which was harder than I thought it would be with back-to-back 30-minute interviews throughout
the day. However, when my first subconscious thought in relation to a candidate's appearance or answer to a
question was something along the lines of:
* Oh gosh, why would they say that?
* Why would they wear that?
* What does that even mean?
I stopped myself to attempt to consider where they were coming from, and the reality that not every candidate
that sat across the table from me had the privilege of being mentored and groomed into going through an
interview process like I had. Rather than a deficit perspective, I began to focus more on what a candidate
brought to the table and how they could benefit our department and what we could offer them in return, rather
than the areas they lacked. I found that I began to unpack my own subconscious bias throughout the interview
process by extending grace and making myself lean into the discomfort I may have initially experienced in a
candidate answer or my initial response to an answer.
Additionally, as my life experience is highly centered on Whiteness and benefitting from a system of racism,
I had to take the time before, during, and after TPE to continually unpack and dismantle my own racism to do
my best to practice equity in the assessments of my interviews. This is a lesson and journey I continually take
myself on every day and would also encourage my fellow White folks to keep this at the forefront of your minds
in all work practices, but especially recruiting practices.

SEAHO Report Fall 2019

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SEAHO Report - Fall 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Fall 2019
