Help Wanted: Only beautiful people need apply

Beautifulpeople.com is a dating website you may have heard about that only allows beautiful people to join. Now, the controversial ego-buster (or booster if you are particularly comely) is expanding to help companies hire attractive employees.

The site allows other users to vote on who is appealing and only those who are deemed good-looking get to stay on the site.

The new feature will allow employers to pursue members or let members apply directly to companies.

If you are shocked that employers would consider figuratively judging the book by its cover, you shouldn't be. Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries actually said the clothing brand only hires good-looking people, in 2006 to Salon. “That's why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people,” Jeffries told Salon in the interview. “We don't market to anyone other than that.”

So, there are employers hunting for a type. Maybe beautifulpeople.com is on to something.

On the recruitment page it reads, “An attractive face is always a great first impression for any business.”

There you go.

And if you were wondering, yes I did sign up for beautifulpeople.com while I was writing this blog. First, I was just curious about what kinds of jobs or companies would use this kind of website to find employees. Unfortunately, I forgot I needed to be voted in. So, I had to wait for two days to figure out if I was even going to be allowed to see the jobs.

I didn't think I would care what people on a website thought of my looks, but when the options people can choose for your picture are “Beautiful,” “Hmmm OK,” “No” and “Absolutely not” you start to get a little insulted.

It's not a fun process. There's even a handy timer in case you were wondering how many hours you have left for people to judge you.

Look some random guy gave me a hug and another winked (weird).

But, success, by Internet standards apparently I pass the good-looking test. I felt a little like this.

From there I got to see the job postings, finally. The first is for an au-pair in London. This seems cliche to me (cough cough Jude Law), but maybe I'm just cynical.

The next is for a real estate agent in L.A., specifically with experience in Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. Makes sense.

Most of the jobs are for sales reps in various fields from software to business law firms. There are listings for waiters, TV hosts, consultants and marketing managers. I was surprised by the variety of jobs listed — not all are jobs you associate directly with looks.

What do you think? Is it ridiculous for businesses to discriminate based on looks, or do you agree it makes sense for certain positions?

And if you're one of those businesses only looking to employ the most aesthetically pleasing, try the website.