Tech Company Says Job Ad for ‘Non-Asians’ on LinkedIn Had No ‘Discriminatory Intent’
By Carl Samson
February 16, 2021
A multinational tech company has apologized for a recent job advertisement that blatantly discriminated against potential Asian applicants.
Aptude, which is based in Illinois, went viral last week over its now-removed LinkedIn ad that sought after a data analyst for the tech company’s office in Menlo Park, California.
In addition to knowing several programming languages, applicants of this particular job position needed to be “non-Asian” and have “no visa issue.”
The ad quickly sparked outrage on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
“My girlfriend found it and was so shocked and she sent it to me. I definitely wasn’t going to let it go unnoticed, so I decided I would post it on LinkedIn more as an effort to increase awareness both in the professional world and to get eyes from the company itself and from LinkedIn,” LinkedIn user Stephen Li told ABC7 News.
Others on LinkedIn found the ad unbelievable. “Is this even real or am I hallucinating?” one wrote.
Aptude says it removed the problematic ad immediately. An internal investigation revealed that it was posted by “an individual with no conceivable discriminatory intent.”
“As a company with diverse leadership, we are especially sensitive to, and aggressively oppose, discrimination in any form. We deeply regret this occurrence, and we are especially saddened by the pain it caused and by the resulting misperception of our values,” the company said, according to The Mercury News.
LinkedIn also issued a statement on the matter: “We’re investigating to ensure this doesn’t happen again. We don’t tolerate racism or hate of any kind — every member has the right to a safe, trusted, and respectful experience on our platform.”
Feature Image Screenshots via Dion Lim (left), @anndreeyahh (right)
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