This recruitment site only wants beautiful people

Remember the controversial dating website that only wanted you if you were good looking? BeautifulPeople.com is moving beyond match-making for attractive

Nishtha Kanal|Jun 03, 2013, 12:46:15 IST

Remember the controversial dating website that only wanted you if you were good looking? BeautifulPeople.com is moving beyond match-making for attractive people and dipping its toes into recruiting for pretty ones.

Just like its parent website, BeautifulPeople.com Recruitment is limited only to users who are voted as good looking by peers on the website. Your fate on both the dating and recruitment sites depend on whether or not existing members of the website find you beautiful.

The recruitment feature will help out employers who wish to hire “good-looking staff” according to Mashable. The service will be opening up to potential employers a bank of 750,000 “beautiful” members.

Only if you're pretty (Image credit: Getty Images)

"An honest employer will tell you that it pays to hire good-looking staff," Greg Hodge, Managing Director of BeautifulPeople.com, said in a statement. "Attractive people tend to make a better first impression on clients, win more business and earn more." He also said that the service must be taken seriously. "This isn't an invitation for crackpots to come and ogle our beautiful members." Cue outrage.

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The site will have dedicated business profiles for employers and they will be able to search for members who’re looking for jobs. Members too will be able to search for employers who are hiring and apply for these jobs.

The discrimination grates and makes you wonder what the founders of the website that started in 2002 were thinking. However, if you come to think of it, wanting to hire only “good looking” people for a particular kind of job does make sense. For airlines to want pretty airhostesses and handsome stewards, and make-up companies to want beautiful saleswomen who have flawless skin is important. Pretty much the whole of hospitality and fashion industry relies on its representatives being better-than-average looking, if not drop-dead gorgeous.

BeautifulPeople.com takes it one step forward, though, by letting peers judge a candidates beauty quotient, and not a future employer. Bring out the Photoshop, we say!

Do you like the idea of a recruitment website only for “beautiful” people, or do you think it’s just plain disrespectful? Let us know in the comments section below.

By Nishtha Kanal

Intrigued by all things social, Nishtha will invariably tweet about you. When not tweeting or writing about the next viral video, you will hear her proclaiming her love to Metallica, James Hetfield, Opeth, Akerfeldt and all bands that go 'growl'. She also obsesses about ACP Pradyuman and South Park and you will always find her moving around with a book. Her focus is on all the happening stuff in the tech domain, and she won't hesitate to take a shot at some of the oddball devices that make their way to our labs.