It's been a good week for ...
dance refuseniks
Electronics retailer Currys has apologised after a job applicant was made to dance at an interview. Graduate Alan Bacon, 21, said he was left humiliated after the episode, which he likened to a scene from BBC comedy The Office.
Bacon has been looking for work since graduating in documentary, film and TV from the University of South Wales in July. After hearing he had an interview for a sales assistant role at Currys Megastore in Cardiff he spent a week preparing for a five-minute talk about his hobbies. Equipped with photographs to demonstrate his interest in astronomy, he went to the group interview looking forward to expressing himself and talking about the qualities he could bring to the job.
But robotic dancing to Daft Punk wasn't on his CV and he was left feeling degraded by the experience and incredulous at the lack of professionalism from his potential employers.
Bacon didn't get the job, but is probably relieved. Who wants to work for David Brent?
It's been a bad week for … tattoos
David Beckham may well struggle to find employment now that he has retired from football. Researchers at St Andrews University have found that managers in many industries still view tattoos as a taboo and would worry about hiring someone who had body art on show. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police is reported to have banned staff from getting visible tattoos because, according to Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe, it damages their "professional image".
St Andrews University management expert Dr Andrew Timming interviewed recruiters in 14 organisations including a hotel, bank, city council, prison, university and bookseller, and found most had negative views about tattoos.
Dr Timming explained: "Respondents expressed concern that visibly tattooed workers may be perceived by customers to be abhorrent, repugnant, unsavoury and untidy."
One HR manager interviewed in the survey did say tattoos could give you the "in" you need to make a connection with people; but that individual works in a prison.
Anyone stuck with an ill-judged piece of body art can perhaps take some comfort from the fact that, with one in five Brits now sporting some sort of tat, eventually those doing the hiring will also have gone under the needle in their youth.
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