I was recently rejected for a job with a corporation. I had two rounds of interviews, on two separate occasions, and during those times, I was assured that my lack of engineering coursework, and lack of a degree in that field, was not a problem, and that I could be trained in the areas I was not experienced in. When I got my rejection letter, it said that my skills did not match the position. I then called the HR director for a more specific reason as to why I was rejected, and was told that members of the engineering group thought it best for the candidate to have engineering experience, and thus I was not chosen.
The next day, in the local paper, an ad for the same position with the company was posted. In it, they encourage applicants of many backgrounds, regardless of their experience, or lack thereof, in engineering. This contradicted what the HR Director said to me just 1 day ago, so I decided to do a test. I had my friend email the director, attempting to apply for the job. He noted a similar lack of engineering experience in his email, with an almost identical educational background to mine, and asked the HR Director if it would still be alright to apply, despite the lack of experience. She sent him a response, saying the lack of experience was fine, and encouraged him to send in his resume.
Seeing that my friend had no experience in engineering, like me, and has an almost identical course of study to the one I pursued at college, as was described in the email he sent to the director, do I have any sort of case? I now know that the company blatantly lied to me about why I was rejected, seeing they continue to post ads that don't rule out people with my qualifications from applying, and encourage almost identical applicants, like my friend, to apply, but is this discriminatory hiring practice? I can't prove any type of discrimination occurred, but are they allowed to lie to me like this, and then continue to accept candidates that have the same or similar qualifications to me? It would seem that this should not be allowed, but I have no background in legal matters such as this, so I figured it would be worth posting on this site. Thanks in advance for any responses on this topic.
The next day, in the local paper, an ad for the same position with the company was posted. In it, they encourage applicants of many backgrounds, regardless of their experience, or lack thereof, in engineering. This contradicted what the HR Director said to me just 1 day ago, so I decided to do a test. I had my friend email the director, attempting to apply for the job. He noted a similar lack of engineering experience in his email, with an almost identical educational background to mine, and asked the HR Director if it would still be alright to apply, despite the lack of experience. She sent him a response, saying the lack of experience was fine, and encouraged him to send in his resume.
Seeing that my friend had no experience in engineering, like me, and has an almost identical course of study to the one I pursued at college, as was described in the email he sent to the director, do I have any sort of case? I now know that the company blatantly lied to me about why I was rejected, seeing they continue to post ads that don't rule out people with my qualifications from applying, and encourage almost identical applicants, like my friend, to apply, but is this discriminatory hiring practice? I can't prove any type of discrimination occurred, but are they allowed to lie to me like this, and then continue to accept candidates that have the same or similar qualifications to me? It would seem that this should not be allowed, but I have no background in legal matters such as this, so I figured it would be worth posting on this site. Thanks in advance for any responses on this topic.