An information technology staffing company apologized over the weekend after receiving swift criticism for a job listing that said the ideal candidate would be "preferably Caucasian."
Twitter user Helena McCabe shared a screen grab of the LinkedIn posting from Cynet Systems on Saturday, writing: "Seriously, what's with this? What kind of company writes "Preferably Caucasian" on a job listing?"
Outraged Twitter users commented, some answering her question.
"The kind of company that doesn't deserve to have customers or employees any more," one wrote.
"Someone who wants to be sued? I hope," said another.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 "makes it illegal to discriminate against a person on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin," according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
On Sunday night, Cynet, which is based in Virginia but recruits for companies around the country, apologized and said the people responsible for the post had been fired.
"Cynet apologizes for the anger & frustration caused by the offensive job post," it said on Twitter. "It does not reflect our core values of inclusivity & equality. The individuals involved have been terminated. We will take this as a learning experience & will continue to serve our diverse community."
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Many of those who commented on Cynet's post weren't satisfied. "Anyone else tired of these companies doing this," then apologizing, one user wrote, "and claiming it 'does not reflect our core values.' Just excuses. If the above is true how did this even happen?! Did the person who posted it not read it before posting?!"
A second Cynet statement posted Monday said: "We understand why some may have been upset seeing this listing, because we were, too." The statement said the company was reviewing all current and upcoming job ads "to ensure no similar issues exist," and exploring strategies to "help us catch offensive or out-of-policy ads."
"Further, Cynet Systems is itself proud to be an immensely diverse company. Both of our owners are Indian-Americans, our workforce is over 60 percent minority and we are certified as a diversity supplier by the National Minority Supplier Development Council," the statement said.
The listing, for a technology job, has since been removed from LinkedIn, which said that it was investigating the posting and that it encouraged people to report inappropriate postings to the LinkedIn team.
