Sep 12 2008
Careermysteries -If You Look Like Crap, You Won’t Get Hired.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Let’s talk about appearances for a bit. It is a sad fact of our society that you will be judged by your appearance and it really doesn’t matter if your job involves being seen by any customers or not. If you look like crap, you won’t get hired. So for those of us who happen to be overweight or have other physical flaws including handicaps, the strike against you may be fatal, no matter what the law says about discrimination in hiring.
So keeping that in mind, if you already have a problem – a limp, a missing limb, a full figure or bad teeth – it behooves you to dress even better than the next guy or gal to counter a potential slap against you.
Yes, we have all heard or read the news that the job interview attire rules are changing and loosening to some degree in many industries. But if you have any appearance issues, those new rules don’t apply to you. In some ways, the fact that these new trends exist is good. If you buck the trend and dress up for the interview the old fashioned way, you’ll stand out from the crowd, but in a good way. More on interview dress next time, including some horror stories from my bottomless vault of HR goodies.
Tell me about your experiences if you have some good stuff to share.
