Posted: 4/8/2007 5:13:56 AM EDT
 I am after 20 years in the Marine Corps about to get out. As such there are number of resources available to people retiring from the Military. Mostly in the job placement area. Very detailed classes on resume writing and how to interview and the like. Even classes on business dress. I recently watched as a friend of mine who is in her early 40s, who is also retiring not get a job because she went up against a significantly younger, significantly more attractive competitor. The Job was a highly technical avionics job and my friend is WAY qualified to do it. She has an intuition about complex electrical systems that is down right frightening. She has been interviewing like crazy and I recently went along with her the day of one of these interviews. As we sat in the waiting area the other person who was applying was also there that day. She was at least 10 years younger and VERY attractive. In brief conversation the other girl commented that she had just graduated with her electrical engineering degree. My friend also has an EE that she worked on for years while on active duty. As the other girl went in I commented on her attire which was a conservative pair of black business slacks and a nice blouse. The Blouse however was skin tight and unbuttoned to what I thought for the situation was a bit low. Anyway in the classes the instructors had specifically cautioned the women present NOT to do that as the trend in the HR world is to not higher women doing this as most HR departments did not want, even the look of impropriety in their highering practices. The long and the short of it is that my friend did not get the job. She shrugged it off but for some reason I am bugged by this. In the interview (I think it was the second as a matter of fact) my friend said she could tell that they had already made up their mind. They asked no technical questions and briefly touched on my friends work history which they commented was "limited." Maybe that has me pissed I don't know. My friend has done more than a couple deployments to the sandbox. So the question is, in this day and age as women do you find your appearance to be a determining factor in interactions such as these? IPSC_GUY SIERRA II ALPHA Oh P.S. my friend thinks she is going to get on with a company doing Aviation Maintenance in Italy so maybe this was a blessing in disguise. |
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It's not just women, hoss. Guys are judged on their physiques just as much. There was an improptu study done where a group of people were asked to judge a couple of guys in a set of photos. Both guys had the same hair color and cut. The same suits. The same background and foreground and lighting. Guy 1, though was obviously fit with a tapered waist and such. Guy 2 was a bit pudgy. Hands down, the group decided that Guy 1 was successful, determined, educated, responsible, mature, et al. The funny part is that all those positive adjectives applied to the pudgy Guy 2 (who was also a deacon in his church, caring husband/father, etc) Guy 1 has a rap sheet as long as he is tall, including rape. He was better-looking, though. |
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keep in mind too that people doing the interviewing are very intimidated by assertive people who are more than or over qualified to do their job. I would tend to believe that has more to do with being hired than looks. I know I've been over looked many of times for someone far less qualified and I've come to believe its because I was more qualified to do the interviewers job than the interviewer. Patty |
I find out that getting mad doesn't get anything done, except you gettting an ucler, which I understand is definitely no fun. |