When it comes to looking for a new job and getting ahead in your career, the challenge lies in reaching out to the company and showcasing your skills. However, sometimes the job description or requirement itself makes me wonder out loud!
Photo Required
Understandably, if one had to get a job based primarily on their looks, only good-looking people would be working people. But then again, doesn’t beauty lie in the eyes of the beholder? Long straight hair and fair skin is a stereotypical idea of beauty in India at least (still) but does that mean that everyone else with short hair and dark skin or any other physical trait is unappealing?
Agreed, for certain industries: sending in a photo is a main criterion. These could involve jobs in Films, Broadcasting, Travel and Tourism etc. However, when I once received an email from a popular recruitment site for a writer’s job – one of the requirements when they asked for my professional details was a picture.
So I guess they were really keen on only having a good-looking writer to write from home and talent wasn’t a main objective here. Tsk Tsk!
Content Writer Role – Age is a Problem!
This has actually happened. One company specified an age limit for a content writing role. Agreed, age limits are necessary for certain roles and industry – but still I wonder why? If one has the right skills and experience and is older (or maybe younger) what’s the issue?
Maybe they felt that older people would slack off or something? Who knows!
You should have “so many” followers
Okay so this actually happens in jobs associated with Social media or basic media. Several places put in the demand that the candidate should have XXXX number of followers on some social media platforms.
So basically the candidate’s personal network is meant to be used by the company they join? To grow the business? Where is the sense in that? The objective should be to grow the company’s network irrespective of how many followers said candidate has, no? What if a good candidate had 10,000 followers on Twitter but had no idea how to execute a role that helps grow the company’s social network?
Salary no bar for best candidate
Such a lie! So many times candidates have come across the “salary no bar for deserving candidate” line. But in most cases, the deserving candidates who fit the bill ask for a pay that is at par with Industry standards and may still not get the job! The job eventually goes to someone less experienced and younger because “salary is a bar” at the end of the day!
Email samples of work
For certain roles, samples of work are not required to be shown. In these cases, there may not be any samples of work to show to begin with. Some of these roles could include Marketing roles, roles in Business Development, etc.
In the creative field, designers / writers / do need to have a portfolio in place to showcase what they can do and what they’ve done so far.
But when a company asks you to email samples of work – it’s a tad irritating. In most cases, seasoned professionals do tend to save their best work on a blog / website. Sharing links of work is simpler, easier, quicker but yet not a lot of companies take the effort to go deeper and look at the link, they still prefer that you email your work across as attachments.