Woman claims she was denied job position for not ‘putting enough effort into her appearance’

There can be a myriad of reasons why an employer may decide not to hire you, and one woman is convinced it’s because she wasn’t wearing makeup during her job interview.

Melissa Weaver recently made a TikTok to see what people’s opinions were on wearing makeup to both a job interview and the workplace in general, while also telling the story of what happened when she was denied a vice-president job herself.

“So I interviewed for a job earlier this week,” her video began. “The interview went so well, every question she had, I had a great answer for. I used to work in recruitment, I know how to interview. My background and experience aligns perfectly with what the role entails.”

Weaver then explained that she received a rejection email from the recruiter for the position and decided to ask for feedback, which she “rarely” does.

“She said that while my background was exactly what they were looking for, my experience lined up with what they needed for the position, and my own personal goals and values aligned with the company’s; she was concerned that for my interview, I hadn’t put in enough effort in my appearance, given the level of role I was interviewing for,” she said in her TikTok.

The job seeker explained what she was wearing for the interview which included a blazer, fresh blow-out for her hair, and earrings, but no makeup. “I didn’t have on any makeup because I don’t really wear a lot of makeup,” she explained.

She then wondered out loud if not wearing makeup actually conveyed to people that you are unprofessional or not putting in as much effort to your job.

Her video went on to receive over 700,000 views with many people leaving comments questioning if that could be grounds for a gender-discrimination lawsuit.

“That honestly feels like discrimination. Not hiring you based on your looks?” one comment read.

Another agreed, writing, “It’s wild she said that in an email to you... this would never be said to a man.”

“Not reasonable. Do men get refused a job because they don’t wear makeup?” a third commenter questioned.

Weaver then made a follow-up video discussing what she was doing next, which mostly boiled down to her just moving on and continuing with her job search. She explained that she would refrain from outright naming the company she interviewed with for the sake of not jeopardising her continuing job search.

“I don’t want companies to come across my videos and think they shouldn’t interview me for a job because if they feel like I’m not a good fit, then I’m going to slander them,” she said.

Even if she did just forward the email to someone higher up in the company, she was worried about the recruiter telling recruiters at other companies about her, which would prevent her from getting a job.

In terms of filing a lawsuit, Weaver added that because she is still job hunting, this isn’t an action that she has the time or money for. And while companies in the United States cannot discriminate against who they hire based on gender, they can choose not to hire someone because of the way they present themselves.

“The recruiter interpreted that as, I wasn’t excited about the opportunity, I didn’t take the opportunity seriously, or that I took the role seriously. I think that’s very unfair and unfortunate because I was excited about it. That was just how she perceived it, and she’s allowed to, so I will not be suing them,” she said.