Lose weight so you can find a job

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Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.

I was talking to a relative about general healthcare-related matters (he's a doctor) when he suddenly pipes up, "You should really lose weight; you'll have a better chance of finding a job that way."

Yeah, I'm about 30 pounds overweight and I should lose it, but will it really make that much of a difference in the job search? (This relative is known to be ridiculously blunt and says whatever is on his mind, so I don't take anything he says to heart.)

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Your relative may be blunt, but he's not necessarily wrong. There are too many individual variables to say how much difference it will make in any particular situation, but there's a significant body of literature on weight discrimination in employment. Here are a few sources I found with a quick search:

Council on Size and Weight Discrimination - Studies on Weight Discrimination in Employment

http://www.yaleruddcenter.org/resources/upload/docs/what/bias/WeightBiasStudy.pdf

The Obesity Society

WEIGHTBASED DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS - ROEHLING - 2006 - Personnel Psychology - Wiley Online Library

Weight Discrimination: The Effects of Obesity on Employment - Hohonu

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Specializes in Pediatric Pulmonology and Allergy.

These studies pertain more to obese than to overweight. According to BMI I don't fall into the obese category.

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It depends on your appearance and the viewpoint of the person on the other end of the interview. I don't think your relative is off base.

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These studies pertain more to obese than to overweight. According to BMI I don't fall into the obese category.

I wasn't suggesting that any of those particular studies apply specifically to your situation, just that there has been quite a bit of research documenting the phenomenon of weight discrimination in employment.

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Wow, I could stand to loose 20 pounds. Maybe that is why I can't get a flippin job?????? Wow.

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This is probably a sad but true fact. The funny thing is that many of the people discriminating against the overweight/obese are overweight/obese themselves. A Nurse Case Management Director I know refused to hire an experienced & qualified social worker who was overweight because he didn't think she could do the job well and even said she's probably lazy. All of his nurse managers were skinny. . .he was obese and quite lazy. . .rarely left the comfort of his cushy office to see visit his employees on the floor.

Most jobs require a physical examination and I believe that the results of that NOT visual judgments about someone's fitness/weight should determine whether they are capable of doing the job. Just my $0.02

Woman on a journey

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