Does Weight Matter in a Job?

by Kathy Murdock | More from this Blogger

28 Oct 2007 02:28 PM

I recently read a wonderful private message from a regular reader who said that she had graduated in the finance field and was beginning to look for employment. However, over the past few years, she had gained some weight (happens to the best of us during college, doesn't it?!) She was wondering if the weight gain would effect her chances for employment.

This question seems to be popular lately. So popular, in fact, that it showed up in the form of an article in one of my favorite magazines, Pink. (If you haven't read Pink and you are a woman in business you really, really need to!)

Does weight matter? Do your chances of obtaining employment decrease in direct proportion to the amount of weight that you have gained or are continuing to put on?

I wasn't sure how to respond to the private message. In my eyes, weight should not matter unless it would directly effect your job, just as with any other attribute.

I known though that this idea of perception in interviewing is a big issue today with Gen Y coming up, as many of the younger people are now tattooed. Does it effect their job? Not likely. Does it effect the perception that some will have of that person? Most definitely. While that may not be right, it is true.

So today I'm asking you to chime in on this topic. Do you think that a person's weight really affects the chances of him or her obtaining a job and if you do (or don't) can you explain why? Please send your thoughts to me in the form of a private message and I will relate the answers that I get (your names withheld!) in a future post.

Here's my take on this: I believe that while weight should not matter, it probably does to some people. Some people focus a lot on how much a person weighs, just as others focus on a person's clothes, car and general appearance. We all have things that we find attractive: blond hair, dark hair, blue eyes or brown. We are attracted to certain people because of certain qualities, whether it be their eyes or their laugh or their smile.

So yes, if someone who is hiring you has a thing about heavier people, I believe that your weight would stand in the way of you obtaining that job. Now I'm off to find more information about this subject that I can share at a later time!

Learn more about Kathy Murdock

Kathy Murdock owns Kinetic Solutions, a marketing company located in Orange County, California, that provides graphic and writing services to new and emerging companies.

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