Articles From the Team
Should I take my engagement ring off for an interview? What?!
An article popped up in my linkedin newsfeed today about a US recruiter advising women not to wear their engagement rings at interview. Controversial topic no?! Can… of… worms…
In the past I have heard a number of candidates say to me “I’m going to take off my engagement ring before I go to the interview~, and this just fills me with a) sadness and b) anger! Why do women feel they have to take their engagement rings off before they go into an interview?! “They might think as soon as I am married that I am ‘that age’ where I’ll be off on maternity leave as soon as I come back from honeymoon”. So what if you do? The fact is no employer in their right mind can discriminate a woman of childbearing age just incase they might possibly one day in the future take time off to have a child. This then leads on to a number of other friends I have spoken to, who in their late twenties/early thirties (and aren’t engaged or married) feel that they too may not be offered the job because they may be deemed of that age where they could soon want to settle down and have a family.
Perhaps what most surprised me however, were the comments made in the aforementioned article. Women in possession of a sizeable engagement ring would be best to hide it for interviews if they want to impress… WHY?! According to this chap, women who wear such a large diamond are instantly deemed to be ‘high maintenance’ and therefore would not make suitable employees. Indeed he also suggested that other female employees within the office to take an immediate dislike to them because they have a bigger diamond on their finger than they do. WHAT THE ACTUAL? People have naturally challenged this guy and asked what if the equivalent were to occur from a potential male employee, walking into an interview wearing an expensive Rolex watch. His response? “You see this watch. It’s a Rolex. Look outside, you’ll see my BMW in your parking lot. I like expensive things. I work on commission. I’m good enough to afford this lifestyle. Any questions?”
I can’t even…
So what should us women of “childbearing age” be doing? (It infuriates me to even be writing this!) – the answer is nothing. Be yourself, wear your engagement/wedding ring with pride, take it off if you want to – it doesn’t matter. They are interviewing you for you. If they have issues over your marital status or the potential for bearing children in the next few years then in my opinion, its not the sort of place you would want to be working anyway. As far as I am concerned, a successful business is made up of every kind of different person, regardless of their gender, age, sexuality, religion, race or whatever. It would be a very boring place without us all sharing the same air that’s for sure.
For more information contact Rozie Hunter at BCL Legal.