Getting a job after graduation may be a challenging ordeal for eager students, but when that difficulty is further compounded by discrimination, the road to employment could seem rocky.

Gary Scott, director of NIU’s Career Planning and Placement Center, said he has received complaints from students regarding age and sex discrimination which occurred at the Nov. 8 NIU Job Fair.

Over 100 organizations were represented at the Job Fair, including private corporations and establishments from the public sector, he said.

The purpose of the Job Fair was to provide students preliminary interviews with potential employers. However, a few of those companies allegedly stepped over the line of unbiased interviewing techniques to a more controversial type of questioning.

Although people might think instances like these occur quite often, Scott said this was the first time students have complained of discrimination at an NIU Job Fair.

Scott said out of the 100 companies, only a few were the basis of students’ complaints.

He declined to comment about the identities of the alleged companies, or the students who made the allegations.

Scott assured, “We have taken action.”

Scott cited the inexperience of some of the interviewers as a possible reason for some of the companies’ alleged discriminatory behavior toward students.

He said it is not uncommon for an organization to send representatives to job fairs to substitute for the usual interview conductors.

The unprofessional techniques of these and other company delegates are what can ultimately result in discrimination complaints.

This is where the Career Planning and Placement Center becomes involved.

According to Scott, complaints can be either formal or informal, and the penalties which result depend on the type of concern.

Informal complaints, which are characterized by the lack of official paperwork about the matter, are the lesser of the two varieties, and will lead to a phone call alerting the company to the problem, he said.

With regard to formal complaints, Scott said the student with the complaint will fill out a form which details the accusation, and a subsequent investigation by the Career Planning and Placement Center will begin.

Although job fairs sponsored by his office are very organized and monitored, Scott said, “You can’t predict (discriminatory practice by an interviewer).”

Although people might think instances like these occur quite often, Gary Scott, director of NIU’s Career Planning and Placement Center, said this was the first time students have complained of discrimination at an NIU Job Fair.