Curious What You Think?

Nancy Mace

July 8,2022 at 2:39PM UTC

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Curious What You Think?

When you are interviewing or prospecting for a new job, how much do you think the following factors influence hiring manager decisions. (I ask because we had this discussion in a meeting yesterday.)

1) A persons physical appearance, I am speaking specifically of their weight. Do you think weight influences a hiring decision? (I know we all would like to think that it doesn't, but does it?)

2) College degree - If you are hiring for an administrative position (management, middle management, director) how important is that degree and why?

3) Age - Yes, I said it. We would hope that someone wouldn't discriminate against age but do you think it happens? How often do you think it influences a decision?

Just curious...I'm not trying to offend.

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Barb HansenJuly 8,2022 at 4:03PM UTC
I wonder how many older, not traditionally pretty, disabled, over-weight, POC, LGBTQ+, or otherwise disenfranchised people would get hired and conversely and how many traditionally-desirable people (white cis-gendered men) won't get hired if all interviews were done blind.
As is, no demographic or personally identifiable information on resumes:
-no college names just that candidate has a degree if a degree is required
-and if a degree is listed as a requirement, but not really required (as in, the college degree is only being listed as a barrier to prevent people who can't afford or choose to not obtain a degree), then the person's background and experience is rolled up and listed as a degree
-no zip codes (no signaling that the candidate grew up in a wealthy town or neighborhood)
-no names (everyone is a Jane or John Doe) and a disambiguated email address (no sliding real names into a resume through email addresses)
-no dates (everyone knows it's illegal to ask someone how old they are, but it's pretty simple to deduce from your college graduation date or the start date of your first job listed on your resume)
-all voices are "robotized" so regional accents and other voice-inflections are removed.
I bet corporate America would look different :)
Rebecca AliJuly 8,2022 at 4:17PM UTC
If only... There have been studies conducted that show that when blind auditions are conducted for a symphony (for example), that the number of women rises. There is so much bias built into the system it seems it would be easier to start from scratch. I've been reading the book "Invisible Women" and it's very enlightening. 10/10 recommend.
Julie HumbirdJuly 8,2022 at 4:44PM UTC
There is always the unconscious bias in the room. Always.
AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 5:01PM UTC
1. I’ve seen many external overweight, obese, and morbidly obese hires in an organization “committed” to internal advancement. It’s for position of manager and higher. I think it’s about the notable companies they worked for and thinking they would be “sneaky, hard-working, hard-**es” that would come down on staff.
2. For admin jobs, experience at respected places is higher value. Public colleges are getting exposed for not integrating work ready assignments into the curriculum. I taught writing skills for white papers for a master’s student with the top public grad program in the state for that area.
3. Age - fine line because I’m in my 40’s but always look super young (sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, lotion, almost no cleanser, almost no make-up) so it’s a double edged sword. The employer wants to see IT continuing education, energy, how internal teams that reflect customers is a recipe for success, and that since 2010 they take routine training of “working across teams reflecting all generations.”
But you must know about great books.
All reading this, if you work or not, if you are eligible for unemployment or not, your state unemployment programs and state WorkSource Orgs, among others, will let you take free training and seminars on topics like this and for “priority” attendance it could be age, veteran related status or disability status and not necessarily job status.
Plus, on LinkedIn learning - if you do premium for even 2 months at a time, you can complete training certificates (which also post on your LinkedIn) to get trained and certified in technical and soft skills.
Some states have agreements with Microsoft for free training certificate programs through WorkSource Locations and/or some public libraries. I was told by staff helping the unemployed that Microsoft employees say the training is better than what they can take.
AnonymousJuly 8,2022 at 6:09PM UTC
I think it depends on the job and industry. For ex if the job is a service/people oriented or tied to entertainment physical appearance and presentability could take priority over intellect. However a technical job, or safety related job, the company or agency is more concerned on you not f*cking up so your education and skills will take priority over whether you wore sandals with socks to an interview.
AnonymousJuly 10,2022 at 3:12PM UTC
As a hiring manager, I can confirm that having a specific degree does impact screening and hiring as it is usually a prerequisite and would be unfair for other internal or external candidates to hire outside of that. The only exception is if a candidate is currently in a degree program. As far as weight and age, I screen candidates frequently and neither are a factor. We aim to hire a diverse group across ages, races and beliefs.