Dressing down

Regarding your feature on “What not to wear at job interviews” (15 October, page 22), I was rather surprised to see a senior manager in a (presumably equal opportunities) housing association make comments such as “I would think this candidate was a bit disorganised”, and, “It looks like he’s about to go off wheeler-dealing …”, on the basis of how candidates dress.

We all make this sort of snap judgement of people but surely fair recruitment requires us not to. Otherwise, I suggest we are on a very slippery slope where candidates’ appearance is concerned.

(Having said that, if we were to make judgments I’d have said Michael’s “bad outfit” looked more the thing for working in In Business for Neighbourhoods, than his supposedly “good” one.)