Innovate - September 09 - Jobseekers take drastic steps to secure employment

As the monster index indicated job postings were down 56% in June 2009 and WhatJobSite revealed that the number of applications were up 68% for job boards during the summer, it is no surprise that candidates are having to compete more and more to secure their ideal role.

But a recent report from Careerbuilder suggests that candidates are actually changing the way they look in order to try and make a stronger impression with potential employers.

The report which surveyed 1000 jobseekers throughout Europe highlighted that 46% of workers had changed their appearance in some manner as follows:

• 18% dressed to make themselves look younger or older
• 10% had lost weight
• 6% had changed the style or colour of their hair
• 6% increased the amount of make up worn or whitened their teeth
• 33% changed social networking profiles to portray a more professional image

Plastic surgery and tattoo removal had also been noted during the survey.