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[fiona]

Thought Forumites might want to keep abreast of this.

The posted comments are also notably snarky.

http://careernetwork.com/blogPost/Cleavagethe-Job-Market/8564/

The Fiona

[kedves]

You said abreast.  Heh heh.  I linked that in the "my TT colleague dresses inappropriately"-themed thread as an example of cattiness, but no one seems to have clicked the link.

I was disappointed that Laurie Fendrich turned an article about intense competition by well-educated people for a $13/hour job into a conclusion that the woman profiled was hired for her hint of cleavage.  Does she not get it?  If the employer wanted cleavage and was sleazy enough to hire for it, I'm confident he could have gotten a lot more for his $13/hour. 

[carebearstare]

Exactly my thoughts. Apparently Ms. Fendrich can't tell the difference between a woman showing off her cleavage because she is trying to flaunt it and a woman who just happens to be in her 20s, is not flat-chested, and decides not to wear a turtleneck.

[scampster]

I found it interesting that none of the comments on the NYT webpage picked up on the cleavage (at least as of yesterday, when I clicked on kedves's link).

Apparently it takes a "modern prude" to point it out. I haven't read all the CHE comments but from a quick scan, it appears most people are thinking "WTF?"

So pretty much... she's the only one for whom cleavage was the most important part of the article.

[wet_blanket]

Exactly my thoughts. Apparently Ms. Fendrich can't tell the difference between a woman showing off her cleavage because she is trying to flaunt it and a woman who just happens to be in her 20s, is not flat-chested, and decides not to wear a turtleneck.

Yup.  The "cleavage" on display is pretty minimal.

[frenchdoctor]

Several members of my family are truck drivers. Believe it or not, they are not greasy, sweaty perverts who like to show their muscles to impress bimbos during  booze-induced brawls in shady bars. They are skilled professionals who use all the ressources of modern technology to deliver their stuff in the right place at the right time. They're responsible for their cargo as well, that can be expensive. Ferrying 30 tons of electronic materials across a continent, for example, requires some sense of organization and responsability.

I doubt anyone who is responsible for their formation would hire someone utterly incompetent solely based on how she looks. Any transport business run that way would not last long. 

Much worse, the columnist is so busy overthinking that she misses what is the main point of the Times article. 13 measly bucks / hour for a job that requires skills and responsabilities ? 500 candidates ? Recruiters asking 128 silly questions to sort them out ? The article is about that, not about cleavage. And, by the way, the huge majority of applicants were refused without even an interview.

I'm an scholar myself, but I'm sometimes bewildered by our aptitude to overthink and overtheorize just everything. The Times article isn't about "the biased resymbolization of irigarayan clothing socio-semiosis in an intergenre working space." It's about how damn hard it is to find a job these days.

[hipgeek]

Yeah, I would have to say the columnist was being a bit of a boob with this one.

[leontrout]

"Being a bit of a boob"?

Okay. I may not be laughing, but I'm tittering.

[spork]

The real lesson of the article:  if you're overqualified, say by having a graduate degree, your resume gets tossed.

[terpsichore]

Much worse, the columnist is so busy overthinking that she misses what is the main point of the Times article. 13 measly bucks / hour for a job that requires skills and responsabilities ? 500 candidates ? Recruiters asking 128 silly questions to sort them out ? The article is about that, not about cleavage. And, by the way, the huge majority of applicants were refused without even an interview.

In other words, not so different from some academic job searches described on the fora.

[fiona]

I don’t need to say it but unemployment is really horrible. That’s why in order to bring home a little money, many I know have come up to freelancing in whatever capacity they had to raise their living, somehow. It is hard but you have to survive it.  

I kinda don't understand why this thread was resurrected. Freelance baring of cleavage?

The Fiona

[lost_angeleno]

That was funny; a real hoot-er.

[tee_bee]

Because the picture wasn't as ... um...titillating as I'd been led to believe it would be, I would claim that the minimal display of cleavage is a non issue.

And, really, what's more "revealing"--cleavage and a loose top? Or a tight black turtleneck. As a guy, I have to catch my breath. But I didn't really find this photo all that provocative, and maybe the scary cleavage was there because, for this one shot, this young woman leaned in for a second. BFD.

[mdwlark]

Exactly my thoughts. Apparently Ms. Fendrich can't tell the difference between a woman showing off her cleavage because she is trying to flaunt it and a woman who just happens to be in her 20s, is not flat-chested, and decides not to wear a turtleneck.

Yup.  The "cleavage" on display is pretty minimal.

Yes.  Nevertheless, and not in my 20's by a long shot, but just to be on the safe side, next job interview I'm unbuttoning the top button.

[marigolds]

Exactly my thoughts. Apparently Ms. Fendrich can't tell the difference between a woman showing off her cleavage because she is trying to flaunt it and a woman who just happens to be in her 20s, is not flat-chested, and decides not to wear a turtleneck.

Yup.  The "cleavage" on display is pretty minimal.

Yes.  Nevertheless, and not in my 20's by a long shot, but just to be on the safe side, next job interview I'm unbuttoning the top button.

I'm pondering whether I could write off a WonderBra as a legitimate job-seeking expense.