Positive discrimination will have negative results on recruitment

Over half of senior executive headhunters disagree with Lord Davies recent proposal to discriminate positively towards women in the boardroom.

New research from InterExec has revealed that 65% of headhunters disagree with Lord Davies’ report on diversity – the report which called for action to encourage women onto boards.

InterExec found that 89% of those surveyed believe that the positive discrimination would see optimal candidates being turned down, while 70% felt that the proposals to increase women weren’t workable.

Kit Scott-Brown, Managing Director of InterExec, says: “I think it would be a crying shame if the best candidate didn’t get the job, completely regardless of their age, sex, colour or creed. It should be skills, experience and aptitude for the job that count. Unfortunately, positive discrimination could mean that the best candidate could lose out on a board room position, which I feel is wrong.”

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