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Comment by jameane | Hacker News Reader

I had an interview experience not too long after I finished college. I don't remember the specifics, but it was for an entry level administrative assistant role. I had plenty of experience in retail, customer service, event planning and working at the front desk of my college - so totally relevant stuff.

The interviewer asked me why I was so confident. And why I had the nerve to want to dig into the terms of the job (salary, growth opportunities and the like - I was a late stage candidate).

Full disclosure - I can't think of a time where I have been perceived as arrogant at all. I am generally well-liked and personable.

The interviewer seemed to have some sort of implicit bias - I think she really didn't think that black people should be confident in a professional environment. I can't imagine that she would have taken similar offense to a white guy asking those sorts of questions.

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> The interviewer seemed to have some sort of implicit bias - I think she really didn't think that black people should be confident in a professional environment. I can't imagine that she would have taken similar offense to a white guy asking those sorts of questions.

Well that's your bias though right. I mean maybe she was just intimidated, stupid, and/or human...

I just came out of a situation where a guy on the train was looking at me with the most disgusted look possible. To the point where I was checking myself in the reflection to see if I had a booger or something. Being white I have to assume he was just a weird dude.

I honestly can't imagine what life is like in the shoes of a minority, but I wonder how often false positives show up. I mean you are assuming the other person is a racist, which is a heavy accusation.

I faced similar attitudes in interviews early in my career. It has nothing to do with skin color, and all to do with prejudices about people without much career experience.

In one case, one interviewer basically told me that I lied about how much I made in an internship. (I didn't lie.)

Now that I'm on the other side of the table, I can tell you that the hardest interviews to run are for recent college graduates. It requires a lot of "would I know this back then" thinking.

I interview plenty of recent graduates, most of whom come off as "over-confident", to their credit, they most definitely have great pedigrees and compare well with their peers and will likely be great additions. However, they down-the-line have no clue what they are talking about, or how to do the job they are applying for...regardless of gender/race/etc.

Just one piece of anecdata. I'm white as snow and got the same question from HR before. I also found it weird.

It's entirely possible she didn't think that way. But prior to and after that experience I did have people (outside of an interview context) that explicitly told me I should not have my level of confidence due to their perceived racial expectations. So I could be overly sensitive to the whole thing.

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