I thought I would share some of my job search issues with the forum. During the past 2 months I have been hunting for a job. My resume is in tip-top format, my references are ready and willing to give me a good reference. The exception is that for 100+ resumes sent to targeted positions, I have got 7 responses.

This bothers me since I have a great skill set, a masters degree, and over 25 years of experience in Information Systems and Management. I really wanted to know what was happening. Was it ageism? Was it sexism? I need to know. So I set out to find the reason behind the silence.

My first name is Roger. I altered my resume to become Christi and also Christy, and Kirsten. My phone answering system is a generic female computer voice that says simply “Please leave a message. Your call will be returned-BEEEP”.

I submitted the following resumes:

· Christi: 5 submissions to large fortune 100 companies
· Christy: 5 submissions to companies I already submitted resumes to.
· Kirsten: 5 submissions to positions a few levels above my experience and typical pay grade.

Here’s the results:

· Christi: 3 requests for phone screens, 1 offer for a face to face with a program director (Ms. Green)
· Christy: 2 requests for a phone screen, 1 offer for a face to face interview with the hiring manager (Ms. Walsh).
· Kirsten: 1 request for a phone screen, 1 for a face to face with the VP of technology (Ms. Berger)

I realize that this study is by no means scientific, but it really shows the sad fact that there is now an anti-male bias in hiring practices by female HR workers, and by female manager/directors.