to think that employers requesting photos on job applications..

[Strumpetron]

are in the wrong?

A woman I know has applied for a job and they've requested a photo. They've also said that 'they really care about appearance with it being such a prestigious company so I'd advise against any blue or green makeup'

This rings massive alarm bells to me, although she's said it looks like a brilliant company.

Any thoughts?

I went for a job in a special school where they requested that a photo was required on interview day for the purpose of identifying the candidates when discussing who was going to get the jobs.

I didn't get it [one of a number of TA positions and another story anyway].

I was well miffed and asked for it be returned to me.

any reputable employer would have the personal details sheets removed before shortlisting so they went on merit of application alone. I guess if it was only to be used as a recall aid after interveiws if they interveiwed loads then ok ish but you make notes and use a scoring system at a proper interveiw so not really needed IMO. I wouldn't apply or would just 'forget' the photo.

I went for a job in a special school where they requested that a photo was required on interview day for the purpose of identifying the candidates when discussing who was going to get the jobs

I can understand this a bit but surely the sensible thing is to have name badges. In this case though they asked because they 'really care about appearance'.

I'd be gutted if a place didn't employ me because I was ugly

Back in my milk round days the best practice I found was the company who took a Polaroid photo of all the interviewees as they came in to be held on file for recall purposes. Useful but without introducing potential for discrimination.

When I was 19 (mid 90s) I worked as a croupier, to get to the actual final interview part we first did a phone interview, then a face to face interview then a mental maths test.

I was told this was to sift out unintelligible accents first, then looks that weren't 'right' for the job (ie good grooming, no bad skin/acne, no visible tattoos/piercings etc and 'not ugly' ), only then were we tested on our maths ability (for working out payouts etc v quickly).

There are some jobs where appearance is considered important, but I do agree that it is a can of worms discrimination-wise.

friend of mine was a consultant (Dr) and used to apply for his jobs/hand CVs in in person because he had a foreign/ethnic name and knew he would be viewed more favourably if they knew he was 'really' British with no accent etc

he hated it, but did it for his own sake

sad, eh?

That's really sad.

My last name is Pouncey. I wonder what image that invokes...

A black family member of mine always puts her photos on CVs because she says she rather not get called in to an interview that she hasn't got a chance of getting if the interviewer is a racist.

*She's not in the UK

In Germany application photos are still the norm, but I think as the EU standard for CVs and job applications is taking over firms can get away with this less and less, which is a good thing.

When I learned to do CVs at school, the first info was age and whether you were married and had kids (about 15 years ago) and the photo - schooling, qualifications and experience came after that. It now seems SO dodgy to me!

Pouncey sounds a bit cougarish Strumpetron!

I used to get called Bouncy Pouncey

cough Pandora cough

I had an interview though, so obviously I am beautiful!