Job-Search site launches exclusively for “Beautiful” People

Job seekers are used to having their skill set and qualifications carefully reviewed, but imagine having your appearance judged too?

Infamous online dating site, BeautifulPeople.com, recently launched a job-search section that’s accessible only to the site’s 750,000 “beautiful” members. Members vote on the admission of new sign-ups based on the “attractiveness” of their faces. Based on some reports, only one in five applicants is successful in becoming a member.

The job postings come from a diverse range of industries ranging from entertainment, sales, marketing, PR and advertising. Some of the listed positions include pharmeceutical sales in Australia, Newspaper advertising in England, to real estate sales in Beverly Hills. Members can sign up and respond to job listings for free, but to email other members, subscription fees range from $25 for 1 month, $14 per month for 6 months, and $20 per month for 3 months.

The website also now allows any company to post job listings on its site, and lets certain firms on a case-by-case basis to target particularly “good-looking” members.

Greg Hodge, the Managing Director at Beautiful People.com, stated that wanting to be surrounded by good-looking people is part of human nature. “We’ve always had interest in the entertainment industry,” he said. What we’ve seen since launching, is that high finance, banks, Silicon Valley companies — fiercely competitive — that companies realize that attractive people can make better sales.”

But Hodge was quick to emphasize that the new job site does not break any discrimination laws. “It’s not discriminatory. It is not a violation of federal anti-discrimination law to hire on the basis of looks, attractiveness, or personal appearance. Title VII does not bar ‘appearance’ standards, so long as they are non-discriminatory.”

He says the one exception is Washington, D.C., and accepting submissions from the nation’s capital would violate the D.C. Human Rights Act.

When asked if he had seen any of the retaliation from a job site that may be considered unfair or biased, Hodge said: “Does it give us a warm fuzzy feeling that society is more open to attractive people? If an employer had an option between two people who are both strong candidates, but one is attractive and one is not, the attractive one will likely get hired. We’re realizing the demand. My job is to provide my members every advantage.”

Our thoughts?

One word….EWWWW.

Legal or not, choosing a job candidate exclusively based on their looks is a GIANT NO.