Sweden: What if a Pakistani would ask you..

There are two options. Either they were playing out a real scenario, in which case they have a serious problem. Or they were playing out a theoretical scenario, in which which case the interviewer used multiculturalism to denigrate both women and immigrants.

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A 25 year old Swedish woman met with insults at a job interview, and would now be reporting the company to the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman

The woman says she was extremely insulted. The interview was for a job as an interface developer for mobile telephones for Densitech, a company of about 35 employees. The woman, from Malmö, had recently graduated. She says the interview was very provocative and insulting.

For example, she was asked how she would react if she worked with a Pakistani man who looks down on women and who would suddenly say: you're a woman, you're dumb, and you're blond and therefore you're stupid. I won't work with you." The interviewer then asked her how she could work with somebody who always told her she was stupid.

She says she got questions along the lines of "Women have a right to work just as much as men. Women can also be as intellectual and smart as men. what about you, (name), are you intelligent?"

After the interview she was told the provocations were just a joke and that they just wanted to test her limits.

The woman says that it's never been OK to harass an immigrant in such a way and to make fun of somebody's ethnicity. She says the questions she got were completely irrelevant and had nothing to do with how she does her job. She had reported the events to the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman.

Mats Jonsson,Managing director of Densitechs, says that the case is tragic and that he apologizes if the woman was insulted by the interview. Jonsson says that it's not their policy to act as she claims they did. They have a number of women in the company and in management, and a third of their employees are foreigners. They work hard against discrimination.

The interview plays out a situation where a foreigner has a different attitude towards society than what we have here in Sweden. This person 'says' something and we ask the interviewee how they would react - will they keep silent or tell their boss, for example. But that it doesn't reflect the company's views.

He says they don't conduct such interviews, the person who did so had quit, and that they must take it seriously if somebody feels insulted.

Source: DI (Swedish), h/ Mitt Sverige (Swedish)