Posted on 05/22/2006 by the cynic
Viewed: 493 times
I was interning at a very small child therapy clinic (I posted about some other experiences there with Ms. Nice and Ms Nasty).
The boss, a licensed social work supervisor(Ms. Shady) was in the process of interviewing candidates to fill Ms. Nasty's position, as she was leaving. There were 4 of us (interns) working there during that time).
Ms. Shady used to interview candidates, then during Wednesday morning meeting, share with us and Nice and Nasty the outfits, hairdos, and quirks of the candidates who came in. She would then decide whether or not to hire them based on what we thought about their personalities/outfits.
One time she didn't hire a lady who wore a forest-green suit, because when she shared the story, one of the interns giggled, "Yeah, a green suit. Like EEWWWWWW!" Ms. Shady was like, "So I take that as a no?" The intern said, "yeah. I mean it's totally brown or blue, but not black--too corporate, and green is just icky."
What did Ms. Shady say? "Ok. hehehee. Not hiring her!" Next?
Another intern says, "Well, she wasn't that friendly when she came into the waiting room. I mean, she totally didn't talk to me at all!" Ms. Shady took the intern's side and said, "yeah, that was COLD. She should be more outgoing tha that!" (Right because the job of every interviewee is to immediately start socializing with the student interns as they walk by, and to be a social butterfly before even being hired).
Ms. Shady? "Nope, not hiring her" *trashes the resume*
And so on and so forth.
I know it's a reality of the job search world that what you wear and how you treat the receptionists/staff passing by in the bathroom can affect getting hired or not, but I just don't think it's that ethical. I agree that you should dress up for an interview, but not getting hired based on "Oh like totally a fashion faux-pas" from some student intern seems like a push.
POST A COMMENTcorporateSlave(05/22/2006)
That's really childish and sad. Sounds like Ms. Green Suit had a near miss with working with some really nasty cliquish people. Gets me to wondering how many interviewers share this thinking. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
the cynic(05/22/2006)
I *have* read on Monster Career Advice, etc., that employers *might* check with receptionists to see how you socialize, or look at the color and style you are wearing, to see if you're a fit. I find it pretty scary and superficial. Interviews should come with a suit, but the color and type of suit should not be a hiring factor. Yes, probably best for her that she didn't get hired!
HaveADamnNiceDay(05/22/2006)
Jeez, I've never heard of such ridiculous behavior. You know, I really hope they hire an idiot as dumb and superficial as they are, so she can turn around and whip the rug out from under them--just because their socks clash! It really is better off that those qualified candidates get hired by REAL companies looking for SKILLS not threads!
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