Apr 09 2008
Are employers choosing good looks over skills?
Today I came across an article that is both surprising and shocking. Employment law service Peninsula has recently run a new survey that reveals that good-looking jobseekers may have more success at the interview stage than other jobseekers.
It is shocking as nearly 90% of employers in the poll stated having, at least once, chosen the most attractive candidate for a job. I really don’t agree with these tactics at all. The only excuse for such recruitment decisions is if the employer is recruiting for media (modelling, films, commercials, etc) and maybe that person who is going to be giving me that long awaited massage at the spa, but that’s it.
These findings are also backed up by Online Recruitment magazine, which reports that job candidates are judged on their appearance by 92 per cent of bosses. It’s unlikely that the Online Recruitment magazine & Peninsula’s surveys only covered employers recruiting for uber hot supermodels, so why are most employers recruiting jobseekers based on their looks? Employers can’t be allowed to do that, can they?
Head of Diversity for Peninsula, David Price, had this to say on the subject.
“Most employers know better than to base employment decisions on appearance that is related to legally protected factors such as race, age or disability,” as well as stating that this could be an emerging as a “form of modern discrimination”, adding that recruiting the most attractive jobseekers does have “legal risks”.
The ClickAJob Chief Executive, Yngve Traberg, said that whilst he disapproves of the trend, jobseekers can play to their strengths: “Work on your attitude. Be so outgoing that you are remembered as looking great, even if you are as ordinary as the rest of us.”
This does work to a certain extent, but for those candidates that aren’t the most extroverted of people, but possess the skills required for the positions, what chance do they have of getting the job? It’s also a very hard issue to raise with an employer, that, the reason you weren’t chosen for the position is because of your looks, especially because you’ve got no history with an employer, you’re just applying for a job.
So, what to do? I guess you should just make sure you look your best on the day of your interview, wear an outfit that you’ve bought an hour earlier, a haircut you had done half-an-hour earlier, and (for the women) make-up that’s ten minutes-fresh. Seriously though, there doesn’t seem to be any way around this issue. Anyone have any ideas? I’m straight out.