Hired based on appearance?

NightFish

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Trust me, everyone is hired by appearance. If you show up in flipflops and tie die, you could be the smartest m/f on the planet but unless your inteviewing to wax surf boards your probably not going to get the job. Is it fair? no. Life isn't fair.
 

B_Craiggers

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Obviously we're talking physical attractiveness, not your professionalism in dress.

If you think most businesses don't hire or promote ugly people, you're running around with blinders on.

A&F is in a class of its own in this regard.
 

sdbg

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Being clean cut and fit got me the job several times when I was still in college working as a waiter. Restaurant managers want good looking people as their food servers.
 

kayman

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I have to admit that I did hire based on appearance. Clean-cut and attractive guys went to the top of the hire file. Additionally, bulges helped. :tongue:

Considering how hard jobs are to come by in Alabama (I'm originally from East Central Alabama), you ought to be ashamed of yourself. SMDH
 
D

deleted213967

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I worked for 11 years as an executive for a Fortune 1000 company, and it was a revelation in many respects, seeing the differences between the public face of the company and what actually went on in the executive suite. Just one quote from the CEO, in a discussion about plans for continuing growth and success: "We want to surround ourselves with smart, good-looking young people." At the same time, as manager of a division, I'm taking mandatory, on-line courses in non-discriminatory hiring and other management practices, something the company is bragging about on their web site.

EEO covers race, gender, age, not "looks", which are intangible.


 

MysteryMahn

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Reminds me of the story about the girl who worked at Abercrombie who got banished to the store room for being an amputee with a prosthetic arm, because it didnt suit their look.

She was wearing a cardigan which her manager approved for her to wear so it wasnt as noticeable on the storefront, then someone from the companies visual team demanded she wear it, she explained why she couldnt but they had her sent to work in the back because they didnt want her wearing a cardigan during the summer, they told her she couldnt return to work on the storefront until winter, when she could wear the cardigan.

Abercrombie "Banishes" Girl With Prosthetic Arm To Storeroom Because She Doesn't Fit The "Look Policy"

Its crazy, she sued and won, good on her.
 

travis1985

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Employers should be free to hire or not hire anyone, for any reason. Call it discrimination in the most extreme cases if you like, but it still comes down to a person's right to do as they see fit with their business investment. Pass a law limiting that right in any way, and freedom has just vanished.
 

atlclgurl

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At the height of Eddie Bauer's popularity, I was hired to work for them (part time, while in school) and didn't think twice about the "appearance" thing until my Manager told me, "I hired you over the other folks, because you've got our look."

I'm half Asian, and Eddie Bauer was a very preppy store, so I was kinda surprised that she thought I looked preppy. But, hey, I was just glad to be working!
 

umami_tsunami

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Employers should be free to hire or not hire anyone, for any reason. Call it discrimination in the most extreme cases if you like, but it still comes down to a person's right to do as they see fit with their business investment. Pass a law limiting that right in any way, and freedom has just vanished.

Well, no. The EEOC spells out pretty definitively what are considered protected classes. An employer cannot discriminate based on these. Here's the EEOC overview

Unattractive, overweight, unkempt, fugly, are not protected classes. An employer does have the right to discriminate or base hiring decisions on their own standards of beauty or attractiveness. It might not be popular and there is high potential of exposure to liability. There are any number of ways a subjective idea of "unattractiveness" can be linked to a protected class. This why many large companies have well defined grooming and dress code policies and train hiring decision makers well on EEOC regualtions.

The Borgata in Atlantic City successfully defended it's highly controversial "weigh-in" policy for cocktail servers a few years ago.

It might not be good or fair, but it's a fact that attractive people have an advantage.
 

AlteredEgo

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A&F definitely hires based on looks. I mean, they even have models standing out front. My brother applied for a regular position there. You know, registers, folding clothes, inventory, basic retail stuff. He has years of retail experience. In his clothes, my brother looks fantastic. He has fine bones, so unless you see him shirtless, he doesn't appear pudgy. In fact, he looks like Chris Brown, people say. (I don't see it, but people do say it a lot.) As he was leaving his interview, someone in the store asked him what he'd just interviewed for. They then asked him not to leave without interviewing for the model position as well. He tried to leave, and even told the woman he didn't think he had the body for it. She pushed, and he went back into the back to be photographed shirtless. He feels that shirtless photo cost him the job he originally wanted. His interview had gone really well, and he'd arrived wearing their clothes, and wearing them well. Oh well. I was happy that he ended up in a shoe store I liked to shop in. So was he. He's a huge shoe slut. Must run in the family.

Frankly, I have a restaurant concept I'd love to be able to open some day, and right behind experience and palate, I will require my staff to have a certain look. It's going to be a date destination. I don't want anyone interfering with the sexual tension I want to encourage among patrons. I want the front of house personnel to look sexy, but approachable. It's not as important as being able to sell, and taste, but it is part of the entertainment value of the establishment.
 
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