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May 03, 2021

Employment site caters only to hiring beautiful people

1204804_silhouette_pose_41 Out on the ‘net, there are your Monsters, there are your Workopolis’ and there are your MSN Careers.

Yet, surely, not every employment site is created equal. Where the above domains aim not to discriminate on race, gender, religion or creed, some portals have no qualms about their selective membership.

And this leads us to BeautifulJobSeekers.com.

The preposterous press release announcing BeautifulJobSeekers.com was forwarded to me near the end of last week. As it describes itself, BJS.com aims to “close (the) ugly gap between beautiful job seekers and employers looking to hire them,” says Ralph van Troost, the site’s founder.

“BeautifulJobSeekers.com is an employment website which helps beautiful, skilled and talented job seekers, to stand out from the competition in the job market,” the release states.

Now, we can leave it to readers to discuss their own opinions of a site like BJS.com (sure looks at lot like HotOrNot.com. Remember that one?), but the real beauty of the URL is what happens when you try to browse job listings.

Out of curiosity, I gave the site a try, performing a broad search of available jobs (BJS.com does not feature Canadian listings). 

Surprisingly, the current postings aren’t just for barmaids and those Abercrombie & Fitch live mannequins. There’s an opening for a VP, Corporate Realty Services in St. Petersburg. One for a Pharmacy Technician in Cleveland. Another for a Legal Secretary in Oakland.

But here’s the kicker: not only does the site feature a banner at the top of the site with the quote, “We’re not saying don’t hire people that aren’t beautiful, we’re saying here’s a place to hire skilled and talented people that are also beautiful!” you must be a “member” of the site to look at detailed listings and job descriptions.

What’s that mean? You have to sign up, submit a photo of yourself and wait to see if you’re beautiful enough to warrant admission.

Here was the email I received after trying to gain membership to BJS.com today:

“You can not login to your account yet. Our visitors and our members will rate your picture first and, depending on the rating it receives, your account will either be activated or rejected. The outcome of the rating process will be e-mailed to you within a few days. Please keep an eye on your inbox in the meantime.”

As of press time, calls had not been returned from a BJS.com spokesperson, but I’ll update this post ASAP with comment in defence of the site’s motives.

(Update: a site spokesman called me Monday evening. Of the site's feedback, he said, surprisingly, "60 per cent has been positive. It's been better than I initially thought." Of the site's need-to-pass-a-looks-test-to-become-a-member policy, he said it's a way of "targeting" employee demographics. If you can't pass the site's five-star rating system, which he said he wasn't aware of how high a score you need to get through, you "have no business on the site anyway.")

What do you make of a site like BeautifulJobSeekers.com?

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...