On: Job applicants over 40 filtered out by employers

[arvinsim]

> It probably doesn't hurt that I stay physically fit, either. As cruel as it may be, if you're out of shape and look "frumpy" or "run down," that will count against you far, far worse than your age.

I am still in my early 30's but this really resonated me. All my life I have been conditioned to think that character, experience and expertise is what matters.

But the reality is that people will form impressions of you by they first 5 seconds they meet you.

[Kluny → arvinsim]

Once they get to know you and your work, looking frumpy or whatever becomes a much smaller factor in their opinion of you. But the first impression is often what determines whether they will get to know you or not.

[ycombinete → arvinsim]

Yes. Some of our best engineers look rather frumpy, but they were all word of mouth/connection hires.

If I look at the engineers that we hired based on recruitment and CVs alone, they are all young, in-shape, and attractive.

[oblio → arvinsim]

> But the reality is that people will form impressions of you by they first 5 seconds they meet you.

This is something everyone should probably learn early on. Or at least be mentally prepared to overcome a bad first impression (which is much harder!).