Unwritten rules of business etiquette - whether to send a follow-up e-mail or not, resume formatting, desired content on an application, anything like that - serve as class filters.

They pretty much just make sure that you don't get poor people working at your company.

"Anyone can google it!"

Yes, and a thousand different hiring managers give a thousand different answers.

"These are things you should just know!"

Learned where, taught by whom?

Taught to you by someone who already has connections in the industry you're looking for? Well, I sure hope your industry isn't already overwhelmingly of one class background.

Getting a diverse workforce means more than "hiring people who can imitate being rich white dudes."

Give me a clear rubric on your hiring site, and hey! You'll see how well I can follow instructions, how easily I can adapt to your /clearly stated/ corporate culture and needs.

Don't make me guess which things of mine you want. TELL ME, and I'll try to provide them.

I remember someone talking about the Harvard application process, and how one question was "Tell a story about a time you went fishing."

And it turns out, it's looking for Fly Fishing or Sport Fishing answers. Because lake/river/stream fishing, or trawling, are low class.

Because they're not /looking/ for low class folks.

They don't want to hear my story about canoeing across a lake in Maine with my dad, and losing a live trap full of fish from a line snapping, and my dad going back with a retrieval magnet year after year to get his trap back.

Likewise, the Legacy interview - or any place that's looking for a "Culture Fit."

As long as you have people from the in-group deciding who gets to join, you're counting on their biases filtering out truly diverse voices.

You're selecting for:

A) Folks like you
B) Good liars

Exactly. So much of culture runs on this - and that's before you get to things like illegal unpaid internships as the only entry-level positions in a company.

Winston Theodore Vanbrace III has the family support to earn zero dollars for a year. I don't. https://twitter.com/UberPinguin/status/1352733798111260672?s=20

When I was in charge of hiring, I asked "If you could have any one superpower, what would it be?"

And then I'd try to pick apart their answer.

Because that told me they could think quickly, respond to unexpected questions/comments, stay calm; necessary customer service skills.

It's not perfect, but it selected for people with good humor, who weren't easily flustered.

It did so *intentionally,* without putting any kind of class bullshit in, because their answer didn't matter.

I knew what I was looking for.

I'd even start by telling them that it was a trick question, I was trying to trip them up, and I wanted to see how they responded.

Because that only seems fair.

Anyway this is me Angry-Dome stomping around because I'm doing a thing I hate, trying to sell myself to companies who won't tell me what they want/need and won't respond on any kind of reasonable timetable.

It's a pandemic. Tell me you don't want me so I can hope /elsewhere/.