Rejecting applicants based on choice of attire

[BeeGeenie]

As a fat, ugly, under-employed man who has been looking for a job recently... I have to admit that in retail her cleavage is going to be an asset. Since she interviewed well, she'd probably get hired before me. *sigh*

People are shallow, and pretty people do well in sales. Those are the facts. I can't begrudge her for something that's just human nature.

 

[Arakasi]

A low-cut shirt isn't that bad. Hell, maybe she wore it to try and help her get the job.

Were I interviewing that would be what I'd be worried about. Being directly manipulative in a manner not based on something pertaining to the job, its indicative of an attitude I wouldn't find appropriate for the workplace.

If she just wore it because she liked it, and/or it makes her feel good, well that's perfectly acceptable, the real difficulty is in telling what her intentions were.

As with most things, when it comes to a choice between judging ignorance or malice, ignorance is the better assumption. Treat her like everyone else.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

Shopping for smart clothes for my own interviews recently I can tell you there seem to be two choices (in my area anyway, can't speak for the entire world of fashion, obviously): low cut dress top or snappy turtle necks. That's about the size of it here, and wearing a turtle neck under a suit jacket when you know you are going to have nervous sweat (an interview) is not a smart call. She might just have been choosing what was the best thing available in her closet or off a rack. Or she just has large breasts (you didn't say) - I know I can't wear button ups or I'm showing the bra between the third and fourth buttons no matter what I do - or I can pin it, which you see and it looks like I couldn't afford a shirt that fit me right when in fact they just don't exist.

If it's down to what they wore between your candidates, maybe you need a second interview to find out who will actually be better for the job.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

In this situation, it wouldn't factor in, but I probably wouldn't recommend wearing that normally.

Though, in most situations, I'd say most clothes shouldn't matter at all. It baffles me that every job wants you to wear a suit to the interview. You could go apply for bloody dustbin man job and they'd want you to turn up wearing your smartest clothes!

It especially peeves me as the suit is one of the most impractical forms of attire ever. The jacket would normally have plenty of pockets, that's the only thing I like. Everything else...the shirt's normally terribly uncomfortable, especially in summer, the pants can't stand up to light drizzle, and just why the hell did anyone start wearing ties? Y'know what totally screams "Intelligent, well spoken businessman"? Wearing a strip of fabric around your neck like a posh noose! All day long!

because some of us can make that shit look gooood

 

[Yopaz]

No you dhouldn't. I'm very much against rejecting someone based on apperances, looks and prejudice. You are basically discriminating her for using a blause you found inappropiate. I hate this kind of thing. Where her answers good? How is her CV? You now, the things that matter to the interview and to the job she will perform. Unless it is a job where wearing somehting is completely wrong, this should be a factor best ignored. The only point of an interview is to choose the best applicant. Do that. Who was the best in terms of preparation and other factors? Fuck clothes and prejudices asosciated with them.

What you choose to wear says a lot about who you are as a person. You should always take care picking out clothes for a job interview because it shows hat you care about the job. If you can't be assed to make an effort to show that you're a professional there are better applicants than you out there. It's not about looks, it's about how you choose to present yourself. Not hiring someone because they're ugly is obviously wrong. Not hiring someone who shows up in a track suit and messy hair is perfectly acceptable.

OT: If she was wearing a low cut shirt (not too low cut) but otherwise a professional clothes I wouldn't think much of it. Trends pretty much dominate the clothes you can possible get these days. My mom's tired of only finding low cut jeans and despite her efforts to find something that fits her she rarely does. I'm not sure how it is with blouses since I rarely wear women's clothing and my bosom isn't big enough to show off my cleavage, but I suspect this might be a problem some women might have. So I wouldn't hold it against her and I would try to filter out the best applicant. If that's her then hire her, if someone else did better hire that one.

Also good luck with your picking.

 

[likalaruku]

If you reject her for her shirt, then you're a prejudiced douche. Simple enough. I worked for a car dealership a few years ago. If they rejected everyone who had a tattoo, I'd have been the only employee. & would it simply hurt you to say "maybe dress a bit more conservatively next time" instead of brushing her off entirely?

It has been disproven that a person's attire reflects their personality & lifestyle.

 

[MeChaNiZ3D]

So it's just enough that you doubt her judgment on attire, but not enough for you to confidently say it's unprofessional.

If I were in your position I'd gloss over that fact entirely. I wouldn't mention it, I wouldn't consider it, I would judge based on the calibre of experience and suitability for the job. I've only interviewed once before, and I like to think impartiality to those sorts of things is best.

 

[Auron225]

If it was up to me; I wouldn't write her off on that alone if she otherwise seemed a good candidate. If it boiled down to her and one other person who were as good as each other but the other one dressed more appropriately in your mind then you could choose the other person without worrying about it. I don't think clothes should be a make or break factor.

Having said that; there are limits. If someone showed up to an interview in a tracksuit, I'd tell them to just leave.

 

[Eeeee0000]

It depends. Lots of women's clothing shows a bit of cleavage, that's just how the fashion is, and it determines what you can buy in clothing stores.
Was it "low cut" like this?

because that's one of the first google images results for 'professional woman'. You said she didn't look unprofessional, in fact lots of professional women's clothing shows a bit of cleavage, and if you happen to have a larger cup this will be even more noticeable. Most women's clothing that doesn't show cleavage are things you won't wear to an interview - hoodies, plain t-shirts, etc.

If it's a case of push-up bra coupled with a shirt so low you can almost see her bra, you could judge her on it because maybe she's using it to get ahead, but if the clothing was professional otherwise... Not her fault that fashion dictates her to dress like that.

 

[kurokotetsu]

What you choose to wear says a lot about who you are as a person. You should always take care picking out clothes for a job interview because it shows hat you care about the job. If you can't be assed to make an effort to show that you're a professional there are better applicants than you out there. It's not about looks, it's about how you choose to present yourself. Not hiring someone because they're ugly is obviously wrong. Not hiring someone who shows up in a track suit and messy hair is perfectly acceptable.

Choosing what you wear cn signify as little or as much as you and the person watching you. If someon came to me in a track suit and messy hair, to me it wouldn't say "unprepared" or "unprofessional" or "no effort", because it may say "I care agreat deal about my health and was exerciecing till recently" or "I couldn't get better clothes" or "I'm more concerned about my mental prowess than my clothes" or "I'm dsitracted and forgot what I was wearing" or "I rebel against the conventionalisms of clothes" or "I'm more confortable with these clotehs in a stressful situation" or a myriad of things. Each person wears clothes differently (I'm usually in a very don't care mind set acutally) and with differents menaing, and forcing your meaning into their clothing style is a kind of prejudice. There are more important ways of showing your professionalism than clothing, like being in time, a correct CV, the way you take yourself. Reading into other peoples clothing habbits is still a kind of prejudice, seen when you judge a punk, rocker, biker by they attire and not their personality or any other stuff. I'm completely agaisnt that practice in job interviews, because tehre are better criteria to selct a candidate.

 

[Ambitiousmould]

Well if it wasn't, as you say, 'too low', then she's quite probably professional, especially if for the most part she interviewed well and was smartly dressed except for this. I assume too, that the position will require her to wear uniform, so in the long run you can trust she won't let her clothes say anything about her while she represents you company (i.e. at work) so it is probably safe to ignore that, I would say.

 

[Yopaz]

If someon came to me in a track suit and messy hair, to me it wouldn't say "unprepared" or "unprofessional" or "no effort", because it may say "I care agreat deal about my health and was exerciecing till recently"

"I care more about exercising than this job", unprepared, not willing to change schedule. Not hired. Done.

"I couldn't get better clothes" or "I'm more concerned about my mental prowess than my clothes"

Unwilling to prioritize job over other things. Not hired.

"I'm dsitracted and forgot what I was wearing"

Not good at keeping up with appointments, unorganized. Not hired.

"I rebel against the conventionalisms of clothes"

Not willing to adapt to a professional environment. Not hired.

"I'm more confortable with these clotehs in a stressful situation"

Unable to deal with stress. Not hired.

a myriad of things. Each person wears clothes differently (I'm usually in a very don't care mind set acutally) and with differents menaing, and forcing your meaning into their clothing style is a kind of prejudice. There are more important ways of showing your professionalism than clothing, like being in time, a correct CV, the way you take yourself. Reading into other peoples clothing habbits is still a kind of prejudice, seen when you judge a punk, rocker, biker by they attire and not their personality or any other stuff. I'm completely agaisnt that practice in job interviews, because tehre are better criteria to selct a candidate.

Your CV, your application (your grammar) only says so much. Your CV is about what you've done, your education. Your application is to make a potential employer interested in what you have to offer. A job interview is about selling yourself, you need to show why you're better than the other possible candidates.

We should judge people based on their personalities, sure, but in a professional setting we have to judge them by how they present themselves too. It's about pleasing customers, clients, partners whatever you have to deal with in a job.

Try showing up on a job interview in a track suit and use one of your excuses. Tell me how that goes.

 

[nariette]

The point of dressing smart for a job interview is that you are trying to say "I care about this job". If you dislike wearing a suit but you still wear it, extra points: You care so much for this job that you did something you dislike. There is a level of formality that suits every job though, I don't wear a crop top if I'm being interviewed for a secretary, and I don't wear my sunday's best when I'm being interviewed to work at the grocery store to refill the shelves. There is underdressing but overdressing as well.

The fact that you posted here asking what you should do means you already know you shouldn't be judging people on their appearance and the cleavage was not deep enough for you to really say "Gosh, I really don't want to hire you". We live in a society that wants to see tits but if those tits get a face, said face is a slut. There have been studies about showing skin during interviews and they actually had a positive effect. People tend to prefer attractive humans, it's human nature. It sucks but humans are just like that. What you can try though is to be conscious about this and try to judge everyone rationally.

If she has all the requirements for the job and she seems to be able to do the work in a good manner, hire her. If she doesn't, don't hire her. Simple as that. If you decide to not judge her on her appearance, you shouldn't do it with the others either.

 

[AustinN]

If someon came to me in a track suit and messy hair, to me it wouldn't say "unprepared" or "unprofessional" or "no effort", because it may say "I care agreat deal about my health and was exerciecing till recently"

"I care more about exercising than this job", unprepared, not willing to change schedule. Not hired. Done.

"I couldn't get better clothes" or "I'm more concerned about my mental prowess than my clothes"

Unwilling to prioritize job over other things. Not hired.

"I'm dsitracted and forgot what I was wearing"

Not good at keeping up with appointments, unorganized. Not hired.

"I rebel against the conventionalisms of clothes"

Not willing to adapt to a professional environment. Not hired.

"I'm more confortable with these clotehs in a stressful situation"

Unable to deal with stress. Not hired.

a myriad of things. Each person wears clothes differently (I'm usually in a very don't care mind set acutally) and with differents menaing, and forcing your meaning into their clothing style is a kind of prejudice. There are more important ways of showing your professionalism than clothing, like being in time, a correct CV, the way you take yourself. Reading into other peoples clothing habbits is still a kind of prejudice, seen when you judge a punk, rocker, biker by they attire and not their personality or any other stuff. I'm completely agaisnt that practice in job interviews, because tehre are better criteria to selct a candidate.

Your CV, your application (your grammar) only says so much. Your CV is about what you've done, your education. Your application is to make a potential employer interested in what you have to offer. A job interview is about selling yourself, you need to show why you're better than the other possible candidates.

We should judge people based on their personalities, sure, but in a professional setting we have to judge them by how they present themselves too. It's about pleasing customers, clients, partners whatever you have to deal with in a job.

Try showing up on a job interview in a track suit and use one of your excuses. Tell me how that goes.

I wish this was Youtube so I could give this a thumbs up.

 

[Smeatza]

snip

Ask yourself one question OP.
"Would I get in trouble if I was to refuse this candidate the job and inform them of the reason why."

The answer is yes, you probably would get in trouble if you informed this candidate that in spite of looking entirely professional they have been refused the job because you (the interviewer) personally didn't like her (admittedly professional looking) fashion sense.

Expecting people to dress professionally is one (reasonable) thing. Expecting people to cover up to the point of puritan discomfort is another (unreasonable) thing.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Okay, so say a woman wears a slightly low cut top to gain points in an interview. Is that her fault for trying, or the employer's fault for being sleazy enough to notice, even if they then react with prudish disapproval?

Also, a man showing his butt crack isn't comparable to a woman showing cleavage. For one, women also have buttcracks. The equivalent of a man showing his butt crack would be a woman showing her butt crack, which she wasn't. That would indeed be crude. A more apt comparison would be a fit guy who wears a slightly too tight shirt to accentuate his muscles. Would you even notice if that were the case? Would you assume he was a slut? Ahem, I mean, unprofessional?