Job interviews in hotel rooms may seem like a relic of pre-MeToo casting couch culture, but apparently the practice is alive and well in the economic field as well.
Until recently, that is. According to the Wall Street Journal, the American Economic Association has announced it will be banning employers from interviewing prospective candidates in hotel rooms starting at the group’s upcoming annual conference in January. The move is reportedly part of an ongoing effort to fight the industry’s less than stellar reputation when it comes to providing an inclusive environment for women and minorities.
Seems like a worthy endeavor, but why were these hotel room interviews happening in the first place? Apparently the seemingly eyebrow-raising practice had become standard at the massive conference where quiet interview space was scarce thanks to the sheer number of attendees, interviews, presentations and panel discussions all fighting for conference rooms.
“It was not unusual when I was a job-market candidate to walk into a hotel room and see a roomful of men, and be invited to sit on the bed for a job interview,” Jessica Holmes, an economics professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, told WSJ. “Many people always recognized it was strange, but it’s finally changing.”
While, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the hotel room interviews aren’t associated with any known instances of sexual misconduct, the association reportedly decided to make the change in response to many candidates’ (very reasonable) discomfort with the arrangement.
At the upcoming conference in San Diego, attendees who book hotel rooms will not be permitted to host interviews in those rooms, and will instead have to book a suite and conduct interviews in the living room area.
“Clearly, it’s something people were concerned about,” said Bernanke, “and we thought it was better to get ahead of it to the extent we can.” Good thinking.
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