Requiring applicants ‘with pleasing personality’ must stop

Appearance-based screening can remain difficult to identify and challenge without nationwide prohibition covering all forms of lookism.

Imagine spending four years earning a degree, building experience and preparing for an interview—only to lose the job because someone decided you were not “pleasing” enough to look at.

You had the qualifications. You could do the job. But another applicant looked better.

This is the ugly possibility behind one of the most persistent phrases in Philippine job advertisements: “with pleasing personality.”

It sounds harmless. Employers may say it simply means friendly, approachable or professional. But if those are the qualifications, why not say exactly that?

“Pleasing personality” is dangerously subjective. It can allow complexion, height, weight, facial features and conventional attractiveness to creep into a decision that should primarily be about competence.

And despite efforts to prohibit discriminatory hiring requirements, the practice has not completely disappeared. Companies may no longer openly advertise preferences such as being young, fair-skinned or possessing certain physical attributes, yet appearance can still enter recruitment through vague requirements such as “pleasing personality,” “presentable” or even requests for photographs.

San Juan City, for example, made headlines for an anti-discrimination ordinance prohibiting discriminatory qualifications in job vacancies, including requirements involving complexion and physical appearance. Yet without a comprehensive nationwide prohibition specifically covering all forms of lookism, appearance-based screening can remain difficult to identify and challenge.

Philippine law has already moved against other arbitrary employment filters. Republic Act No. 10911, or the Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act, promotes employment based on abilities, knowledge, skills and qualifications rather than age. Subject to exceptions, it prohibits job advertisements indicating age preferences and requiring applicants to disclose their age or birth date during the application process.

The Magna Carta of Women, or Republic Act No. 9710, likewise provides protections against discrimination against women.

Psychological research has also documented the halo effect, in which attractiveness can influence assumptions about unrelated qualities such as competence or intelligence. A résumé photograph can therefore shape impressions before recruiters even discover what an applicant can actually do.

There are jobs where appearance legitimately matters, such as acting or modeling. But for most jobs, beauty is not a competency.

An accountant does not balance books better because she is fair-skinned. A programmer does not write better code because he is tall.

If employers want friendly workers, require interpersonal skills. If they want professionalism, require professional demeanor.

A job can determine whether someone pays rent, supports a family or escapes poverty. Nobody should lose that opportunity because someone in HR preferred another face.

Hire people who can do the job. Stop turning employment into a beauty contest.

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