While I had just returned from vacation and thought I was pretty good with my caramel complexion, I soon realized that I made a rather poor figure. Just in case I had any doubt, an acquaintance I met in the street told me, “Fortunately, by the time you get back to work you will have lost everything!” Fortunately? Was it pure jealousy (I was out under the sun, not him?), concern for my health (yes, I had braved the sun, armed with my tube of sunscreen!) or because we live in a time that is more and more sanitized and “politically correct”? Would you like some examples?
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We cannot show any tendency for tobacco: a candidate whose pack of
cigarettes comes out of her bag will immediately lose points with her recruiter.
- A noontime meal is socially acceptable if and only if you just order plain and ultra-flat water!
- An overtanned individual may appear:
- to have taken too many holidays in the sun instead of looking for work;
- to not look after their health;
- to care too much about their appearance and looking like Barbie or Mr. Ken…
- An individual whose weight is not standard arouses the following reactions:
- Being overweight is unacceptable; it’s a sign of poor health and especially, for some, a sign of weakness. Whether the person is super-competent or not, the healthy weight Ayatollahs will crucify him;
- Thinness is equally unacceptable and subject to the same penalties. However, it is socially acceptable; especially if you have pale skin (generally goes together, so you’re safe!).
- A “too good looking” person is considered to be less intelligent, especially a blonde woman, with pale complexion and rather thin.
- A person who is “too ugly” is relegated to back stage functions for fear of scaring other people.
- Someone who comes from a foreign country whose name is hard to pronounce may be more subject to ridicule. He will have to work harder to prove his competence and to integrate.
- Finally, a woman who wants to return to the job market after having devoted her career to her family will have to show her credentials to those who have dedicated their life to their career. Note that the opposite is also true. Women are often all wrong. A piece of advice, ladies: dye your hair brown and look after your milky complexion…
- For questions of equity, let me add one last item about men who take a career break to take care of their children. They will be entitled to the same treatment as their counterparts (see above).
How many candidates don’t get the coveted job for unspoken and unspeakable reasons? How many candidates lose hundreds or even thousands of dollars in salary by failing to comply with the dictates of health, beauty and other trends? In this regard, note that trends in business and the corporate world for the use of the Botox eldorado and other smoothing “dressups” are more and more popular with managers who want remain “attractive” on the job market. Clearly, those who dare the gods with “youthful skin” substances or even the outright scalpel are playing with fire…
We have to eat healthy, drink healthy, educate our children and work in such sanitized environments that we lose all judgment. This is what scares me the most. By bleaching our words, our actions and our thoughts, we will ultimately see only what we are fed and will all end up like sheep. Our organizations deserve out of the box candidates, free thinkers and able to “challenge” them. It is neither by force-feeding them with odourless and tasteless food (including intellectual food) nor by forcing them to fit into a mould that we will be able to innovate. Everything is a question of judgement and moderation. The nature of humanity is to be inhabited by our passions; if we know how to control them, we cannot ignore them. This is what keeps us alive and out of trouble.