Leaked hiring memo reveals U.S. firm blacklisting Indian IT giants
NEW DELHI, INDIA — Bias claims ignited in tech recruitment as a leaked email exposed hiring criteria showing an unnamed U.S. firm blacklisting Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro hires, and non-Americans.
The accidentally leaked internal document, shared on Reddit, reveals stringent criteria requiring candidates to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents with degrees from certain universities, excluding thousands of qualified professionals.
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Dual hiring bias in tech recruitment process
A leaked U.S. recruiter email has exposed two systemic biases shattering the tech industry: the blacklisting of Indian IT talent and rigid university preferences.
The document explicitly prohibits hiring candidates from these companies:
The policies disproportionately impact both experienced professionals and non-traditional candidates. By rejecting consulting backgrounds and demanding a GPA of 4.0 from non-target schools, the criteria eliminate most upwardly mobile tech workers.
Applications were restricted to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and Canadians, as the leaked email states that there would be no visa sponsorships offered for applicants.
The hiring restrictions posed a severe threat to India’s $250bn IT outsourcing business as this sector heavily depends on placing IT professionals at clients’ international sites. Analysts warn that widespread adoption of these policies will force leading IT companies to speed up their upskilling efforts as well as restructure their workforce distribution methods.
Hiring restrictions threaten outsourcing industry dynamics
With the leaked email hiring memo resurfacing, such policies, if adopted widely, may force outsourcing giants to retrain or rebrand their talent pools as corporate clients grow wary of “blacklisted” experience.
Specifically boxing out talents that don’t meet their criteria, they limit themselves from having a diverse pool of talents across the globe.
This hiring bias could trigger a talent retention crisis for outsourcing firms as employees seek non-blacklisted employers. Additionally, as this exposes outsourcing’s vulnerability to client-side hiring biases, it needs to be addressed to avoid these possible challenges in the industry.
