You Are More Than What You Look Like

It’s no lie that recruiters and hiring managers dismiss your resume — and your appearance — within 11 seconds of coming into contact with you. (Google it.)

People make snap judgments based on hair, weight, color, gender, age and font. That’s science, which is rooted in the ugly side human nature. But just because it’s science doesn’t mean that it’s fate.

We can overcome the ugly side of human nature and retrain our brains to consider the content of someone’s character over the content of a stupid resume.

We don’t have to spend 11 seconds on a resume. We can spend thirty seconds. We stop lying to ourselves that we’re so busy. We can plan our work better. We can opt out of the busy-trap and be more deliberate with our schedules.

But I’m not here to just indict HR.

As job seekers, you fail yourselves on a regular basis. You don’t bring your best selves to an interview. You are cynical and depressed. You are not ready to clearly articulate what makes you special and unique. You don’t wear clean clothes, you don’t brush our hair, and you might have a drink or a smoke before the interview to settle your nerves.

Job seekers should seek, when possible, to make their appearances neutral in order to draw attention to their shining skills.

But I still blame human resources professionals and managers for being simplistic assholes. Group-think hits us like a ton of bricks when assume positions of power. We start judging people for niggly shit that doesn’t matter. And just because we assumed a position of power doesn’t mean that we passed the “sniff test.” We forget that we probably got our jobs because we knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who gave us a chance.

We are more than what we look like.

HR professionals need to lose five pounds. Hiring managers are too petite or too tall. And some job seekers are missing fingers, toes and limbs. That’s life. People do fine while living life with blindness, deafness or downs syndrome. Candidates can work for you while fighting cancer. And older workers aren’t desperate and pathetic.

Take a few minutes. Look deeper. And stop being so judgmental.

I want to you to adopt a level-headed approach to hiring and stop judging people on the easy stuff. Just as you are more than that shitty hair cut or Coach bag, dear HR readers, your candidates are wholly differentiated human beings who are more than their superficial resumes suggest.

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