Like it or not, one’s physical condition influences hiring decisions. All things being equal—which they rarely are—the candidate who looks healthier has an edge. Projecting that image can amount to biting into hard cheese.
While it is indiscrete for employers to make blatant inquiry as to an applicant’s eating rituals, a visual head-to-toe inventory during a face-to-face satisfies their curiosity. The dirty secret is that in a tight market, the leaner, sharper applicant has the presumptive edge.
Once you reach your age of majority, you have an inalienable right to dine on whatever cuisine you desire. Health insurance providers take exception, however. Employers who routinely hire unhealthy workers are often penalized for that indiscretion.
For some, eating is a religious experience we practice daily. Not until we show up to deliver that job-offer performance will we have to concern ourselves with our eating habits. By then, that last-minute event could come down to an oh-shit moment.
True believers ascribe to the doctrine that if you eat real food, you live longer, healthier and smarter than those who do not. Nonbelievers dismiss that as a bunch of hooey, but they may be functioning in denial. Those who evangelize extreme positions often waste their breath as if they were trying to persuade agnostics.
Food and eating extremists abound. At the far left, there are those into macrobiotics, and on the far right, there are the diehard fast-food addicts. Everyone else falls somewhere in the middle. Odd as this may seem, no one falls smack-dab in the center. You tilt either to the left or to the right. (For example, you won’t find incongruities such as a food purist sipping a can of soda pop or a vegan eating raw meat.)
Presently, the majority of American jobseekers are overwhelmingly leaning to the right in their eating habits (or beliefs). If you doubt that, check the national obesity statistics. You will note that two-thirds favor processed foods and canned beverages over real food—a dubious distinction to be sure.
So, how do eating habits end up in the prescreening interview? As noted in several of my previous articles, whatever you eat and drink in private you wear to your interview. How indigestive and sobering is that?
If you are planning a fat-chance interview anytime in your upcoming future, you may want to take your eating beliefs into consideration. If you don’t, the next employer will! And somewhere between meals and inspiration you’ll find employment salvation.
Copyrighted © 2013 by Robert James