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Comment by mfoy_ | Hacker News Reader

I'm sorry... I mean, really? I thought you were just trolling originally, playing up the "I don't see race" trope. Well, I'll spell it out very plainly for you then: A profile picture facilitates hiring discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, beauty, and possibly other factors as well.

You'd get into trouble if you wrote "I am a young, white, normal-looking man" on the top of your resume... but maybe if you just sliiide a little headshot in you'll get the message across.

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> A profile picture facilitates hiring discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race, beauty, and possibly other factors as well.

I agree with you. That's why I said I don't see why anyone other than an actor should put their photo on a resume, because it makes it easier for the reviewer to discriminate based on illegitimate reasons.

Perhaps there's a misunderstanding? This discussion thread has been about why anyone should include a photo, not why they shouldn't. Unless they want to attempt to benefit from such discrimination by having a favored appearance, which we want to discourage.

The reason people should do it today is because in some places, not including a photo would be like leaving out your name. The likely reason that custom began, which is I think what was being explained, is racism.

given that germany is the country where this custom is common, and adding that especially in germany any non-german can easily be recognized by their name alone, giving racism as the reason for that custom to develop is almost absurd.

Germany may be a country where this is common, but not the only one by a long way. And no, a German name does not tell the potential employer that your mother was a foreigner? https://us.experteer.com/magazine/should-you-put-a-photo-on-...

it doesn't, but in germany that's a small minority of cases. and even germans who would want to preferably hire other germans would not worry about that case as long as one parent is german.

you have to keep in mind that germany has a strong fear of history repeating itself and has strong laws to prevent that. so any hint of xenophobia in the hiring process could be a PR or legal nightmare for a company.

if photos on the resume would be a problem in that regard, they'd have been outlawed already.

Germany does outlaw requesting photos on a job application, so they clearly see some kind of problem with it. But attitudes today are not the ones to look at when trying to figure out why it became a common practice in the past.

yup, i noticed that. things are changing. however, i was arguing about the reason why the practice started. and i still strongly doubt that racism is the one. not that there aren't racist germans, but because with a few exceptions in germany a picture doesn't tell anything more about race that a name wouldn't already tell.

if i were to speculate for the real reason then it is whether the applicant looks presentable. german office culture is rather uptight. it is also likely that it started on the candidate side, and that people realized that including a picture would make them stand out more.

"If X was a problem it would already be outlawed" is so riddled with fallacies...

you are right. that was kind of a cheap shot. my apologies.

Positive discrimination. If you're a young, white male you can include a headshot and get a better-than-average crack at the job.

How much do you think this increases the candidate's odds?

People assume white/male would benefit. But something tells me attractive people and females would receive more interviews requests.

Perhaps, and who would get picked because they look the most “professional”, “relatable” or “likable”?

It doesn’t have to be an active decision to be racial bias. Could just be your gut, “looks like a good person to me” instinct

“professional”, “relatable” or “likable”

I really do think women would get high marks and probably beat out many males in these categories.

Maybe young/old but a resume clearly gives that away.

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