US firm slammed for job ad seeking ‘preferably Caucasian’ candidate

A US recruitment firm has been blasted for posting a “racist” job advert online saying they would prefer white candidates.

Cynet Systems posted the listing for an account manager role who is “preferably Caucasian” on a number of job search websites including LinkedIn.

The company has since apologised and removed the ad, saying they “truly regret” the error and those responsible have been fired.

One bullet point reads: “Preferably Caucasian who has a good technical background including knowledge of RPA”.

The listing was spotted by Florida-based coder Helena McCabe who shared an image of the job description as it appeared on LinkedIn.

Helena tweeted it on Friday with the caption: “How could you POSSIBLY think that’s okay?”

Her tweet amassed 14K likes and 8.3K retweets, with many replying to express their shock.

‘THERE’S NO GETTING OUT OF THIS’

One twitter user wrote: “I can’t believe something like this still exists in this day and age”.

Meanwhile another replied: “I’m actually about to sue them, there’s no getting out of this.”

And one tweeted: “Not a mistake. Please. It’s probably said all the time in this company and someone put it in writing. The hellfire is coming for this company. Yikes.”

Many Twitter users implored Helena to report the listing to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is responsible for enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws.

According to the EEOC, it is “illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, colour, religion, sex… national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information”.

But one recruiter on the social media site said: “As a recruiter I can tell you you’ll receive a ‘profile’ request like this all the time.”

‘CERTIFIED DIVERSITY FIRM’

Ironically on Cynet Systems’ website the company claims to be “a nationally and locally certified diversity firm”.

They add: “It is our firm belief that mutual partnerships will benefit all diversity firms and help corporations, and communities in their larger goal in uplifting the weaker, disadvantaged sections of society.”

The firm’s two co-CEOs, Nikhil Budhiraja and Ashwani Mayur are Indian-American and the firm claims to have a 60 per cent minority workforce.

In a statement posted by both Mr Budhiraja and the company’s official Twitter account, Cynet Systems said it had made “a terrible mistake” and that “the concerned recruiter will be undergoing re-training”.

But after significant further backlash, the company said the person responsible had been fired.

A statement by co-CEO Mr Mayur given to The Sun Online reads:  “We truly regret the fact that individuals formerly employed by Cynet Systems went outside of company policy and included an inappropriate requirement in a job listing.

“The individuals involved in this case were terminated immediately for a significant violation of
company policy, and we have already begun a review of all currently existing and upcoming ads
to ensure no similar issues exist.”

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