My curiosity got the best of me when a former six-figure financial executive came to me as a customer seeking training and employment. He was part of a massive layoff in a big, renowned Manhattan bank.

Though his circumstances weren’t unusual, what he said to me when recounting his latest interview, was. His skill level was not the problem. After all, the new position called for those exact skills and both had determined they were totally transferrable and he could easily adapt to learning the company’s products and services. His humility in accepting a rather huge salary reduction didn’t render him any less attractive as a candidate in this instance. Someone he knew had even made this interview possible so his resume wouldn’t fall into the cyber abyss. With everything in place, one would think an offer would follow.

Think again.

The interviewer revealed something I had never heard before and would never have conceived of. The concern was that this man came out of the finance industry and might not fit in with the more mellow culture of this new industry.

Corporate culture paranoia, you say?

Apparently this fear articulated by the very honest interviewer is very real. In his job search, my customer has seen quite a few internet ads with the specific ‘warning’ at the bottom, “Financial Executives Need Not Apply.”

When I expressed dismay and delved further for an explanation, he told me that there is a belief that finance executives are dictatorial and not team players. The thinking is that financial industries get things done by who yells loudest and has the highest title. It sounded to me as if he felt finance workers would disrupt the workplace or create a hostile one.

Financial executives comprise of a huge portion of laid off workers since last Fall.

The finance industry has suffered huge blows and many companies have frozen their hiring activity. Is this group with such large numbers of people a newly discriminated- against group?

I am still curious and would love to hear from any jobseeker who has experienced this prejudice firsthand and how and if the fear was assuaged and objection overcome enough to win a job offer. I request 405 readers’ feedback on this matter - click through the post title to leave a comment.

-By The Job Enthusiast Who Won’t Rest Till Everyone Is Put To Work!

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