In the society we all live in today, your outside beauty is focused on more than your inner beauty. Many businesses have realized how to apply these views to their own benefit. They have focused on trends and realized it is more profitable to hire those with good looks. However, since many popular businesses are only hiring certain ethnicities, body types, and genders in order to project the company image, it has been questioned if these companies are just discriminating against people. In this article “Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination” by Steven Greenhouse from the New York times it says “hiring attractive people is not necessarily illegal, but discriminating on the basis of age, sex, and ethnicity is.” Most companies claim…
Hiring based on looks is discriminating in the way that people cant change who they are and how they look. Those people who didn’t “fit the standards” would be hurt emotionally. They would have self-esteem issues because the are constantly being turned down from a job because they “aren’t pretty enough”. People who have the looks would be accepted even if they didn’t have the skill to do the job. They are technically being paid to, as they say, stand around and look pretty.…
Basing hiring standards on beauty directly influences diversity in the workplace by limiting the pool of applicants for a job. Consequently, this may increase or reduce job opportunities for certain individuals in the workplace. “Never underestimate the halo effect,’” says Janice Guler, Ceridian’s director of staffing. “Attractive people are assumed to be intelligent and successful and it’s been said that as many as 50 percent of managers make their hiring decisions within the first 30 seconds of setting eyes on an applicant. While this is unfortunate, it’s human nature. People have a real tendency to trust their gut, rather than trusting the empirical data (http://akalol.wordpress.com/2009/03/17/).…
I am pretty sure that on the hypothetical case that there is a vacancy for a salesman in a firm, and two men with the same good qualifications and experience, but one of them good looking and the other one ugly, go for the interview, the employer is going to hire the handsome one. I think you have more opportunities to be promoted and succeed in a company when you are…
Reading selection for this module: Greenhouse, Steven. “Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination.” New York Times. 13 July 2003.…
One of the biggest problems causing separation in today’s society is discrimination based on looks. Our morality is constantly decreasing due to greed and selfishness. At one point in time we focused on the well being of every human being no matter their race, color or gender; looks meant nothing while love and friendships meant everything. On the contrary to Marshal Cohen’s statement that a “brand enhancer” or a “walking bill board” is critical, hiring people based on looks is not morally correct, and morality should be held above money and reputation.…
In the society we live today, where outside beauty is more important than inner beauty, businesses have realized how to take advantage of that look to their own benefit .They have looked at trends and realized that it is profitable to hire those with outer beauty. Businesses are only hiring certain races in order to project that image, it has been questioned whether these businesses are discriminating. I agree with Cohen that it is a smart move to hire based on image because it is an effective marketing strategy.…
Unfortunately in today’s society people are discriminated against based on their physical attractiveness thereby reducing employment opportunities for those less good- looking workers. The following paper will focus on physical features discrimination in the workforce through a theoretical analysis of the socio-political and other social factors which operate to maintain discrimination against clients, consumers and service users. The paper will also demonstrate knowledge of a range of relevant issues affecting the disadvantaged group, demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between client’s issues, and government policy and demonstrate an understanding of the policies relevant to the service delivery.…
People that say “looks don’t matter when it comes to business” appear to be totally wrong. In our society nowadays it seems that looks do matter. Besides knowledge and capabilities some looks tend to give you a higher salary or a higher chance of getting hired. Lots of researches proved this statement and there are different opinions on what exactly are those looks. One of the top debates are the differences between blondes and brunettes, fat and thin, tall and short and if you smile alot or not.…
In the society we live in today, where the outside beauty is more important than the inner beauty. Businesses realized how to use that beauty to make a great amount of benefit become quite successful. Attractive and trendy employees will help draw more customers to a specific store and will generate more profit for that company. This is a commonly practiced hiring technique that is not against the law. It might be seen as discrimination in only hiring only certain type of people to project business’s image though it is indeed useful and profitable.…
Cohen argues that there is a good reason to gain this edge by hiring solely on looks rather than ability, and I couldn't agree more with Cohen's standpoint, because we are in a very competitive age, and methods such as using good looking people simply works. People shouldn't look at it as anymore that just a business gaining an edge.…
Beautyism in the workplace is discrimination in one of its most disguised forms. Employers get away with this form of discrimination everyday. Because someone is categorized as beautiful it doesn’t mean that they have all the knowledge they need to succeed on a job or neither does it validate that they are a better selection than the next person. Beauty is skin deep and outward appearance is not enough to justify someone’s worth to a job. It will not be outwardly talked about exactly how a person has really gotten the job if they were hired because of beautyism. An idea can be developed or an assumption can be made from the treatment that is given to the person who was hired because of beautyism. What will be noticed in most cases is the special treatment that is given that is not given to the rest of the hard working…
Discrimination is likely during the recruitment process. The online Oxford Dictionaries (2010) defines discrimination as “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. On the other hand, Townley (1989: 97) argues that recruitment “involves a process of discrimination”, and it was found that in most situations, the discrimination that takes place during the recruitment process is not “unjust”. In this essay, authors are drawn upon to support the argument that discrimination is a necessary and justified part of the recruitment process. The level of discrimination may vary, however, depending largely on the type of industry the organisation hiring is categorised in. From this, prospective employees are scrutinised based on their skills and/or characteristics. The type of industry as well as the generation of managers (i.e. baby boomers) impacts on the recruitment methodologies used. Managers may be influenced by the match of personalities, or other features of their life, between the potential employee, also known as the Just Like Me effect (Rudman 1999). This demonstrates that there may be instances where not only high levels of discrimination transpire, but unjust discrimination is practiced. Unjust prejudice that may occur revolves around the lack of understanding from, and perception and values of managers, the source of stereotyping. Encouragement of engaging in a diversified social environment will broaden views and decrease intolerance. As well, Australian laws have also been put in place to discourage bias and unjust behaviour. Thus, in general terms, the amount of discrimination that varies is justified and necessary during the recruitment process.…
The author brings forth a good point to ponder: “So why not simply ban discrimination based on appearance?” This is a great idea, but the problem lies within the ability to enforce this rule. In the current time, job applications, and sometimes even credit applications, contain clauses regarding not discriminating due to age, race, gender or ethnicity. However, people in the positions making those decisions can actually discriminate based on those factors, as long as what they show on paper does not reflect it.…
Certain companies rely heavily on offering customers an experience when purchasing or using their services. Such an experience hopes to establish a company image, reputation, and more importantly profitability. These companies reserve that hiring employees, spokespersons, and promoters with a certain look creates an atmosphere that appeals to consumers that enter the business establishment, or purchase their products. Modern business practices promote branding, and unique shopping experiences to keep businesses competitive. This desired experience might be attained through hiring younger, attractive, fashion sensible employees to meet a company’s image. Executive Order 11246 of the US Department of Labor (USDL) prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin to ensure equal employment opportunity. Employers should reserve the right in a capitalistic economy to hire employees who meet the company image criteria in order to continue to meet the demands of spending consumers.…