An outraged recruiter was left horrified after she received a message from a “slimy” property firm boss telling her that a size 16 jobseeker hadn’t been hired because she was ‘too fat’.
Faye Angeletta, director of house building and property recruitment company TDM Recruitment, had put a candidate forward to one of her clients for a role in new home sales.
But when she asked the employer for feedback, she was horrified that they’d branded the jobseeker ‘not the slimmest’.
She claims he even said that he feared for the showroom stairs or that she would suffer a ‘heart attack’ due to her ‘size’.
In retaliation, Faye then pulled the size 16 woman from the running and explained she could not open her up to bullying over her appearance.
However, the recruiter claims the candidate asked for ‘honest feedback’ so she felt compelled to reveal that the boss had said she was simply too big.
The 32-year-old from Stratford, East London, said: “I’ve been working in recruitment for seven years. It was unbelievable.
“That message came through on text message. I absolutely couldn’t believe he’d put it in writing.
“On the phone, he said ‘well, you know, I worry for the stairs that we’ve got in the showroom or her having a heart attack’.
“He was a slimy, horrible man. He laughed down the phone.
“This woman is a size 16 – the average size for a woman in the UK. It’s just honestly unreal.”
Faye was then forced to call the unnamed candidate up to tell her the feedback, refusing to bite her tongue so she could avoid the woman ‘reengaging’ with the client in the future.
Faye said: “I’m looking for the best person for the job. At the moment across the whole of the UK, there is a shortage of talent.
“I said to him ‘I just want you to realise that your reason for not taking this candidate is wrong.
“There will be criticism and I have to filter what is said to me back to the client. This lady had a battle with cancer. She is actually taking steroids.
“[In the past] one client has come back to me and said someone picked their nose. She said ‘I don’t know if it’s a nervous thing but that’s not how you conduct yourself in front of somebody. It was very uncomfortable’.
“I had one candidate who hadn’t washed for a few days. People need to know why they didn’t get a job and what they can improve on.
“You might say ‘just make sure before your interview you check yourself in the mirror and make sure your hair’s tidy or you don’t have coffee on your lips’.
“But with this person, they were overweight. I have a duty to make sure this candidate doesn’t try to reengage with this person.
“He didn’t actually say no to her. He basically said he was still interested but she was too fat.
“If I put that person in that job, I would feel responsible for the bullying that could happen. I couldn’t put her in a job where she would be judged on the basis of her appearance is absolutely not okay.
“She said ‘I want to know honestly what the feedback was’. When I told her, she just laughed and said ‘are you joking?'”
The recruiter shamed the boss on LinkedIn, where she said: “‘Sorry, you haven’t got the job – you’re too fat!’
“I was lost for words on the feedback below.
“I’ve had it all when it comes to reasons for rejection:
“‘They had the worst garlic breath I’ve ever encountered’
“‘Big fat no – he reminded me of Piers Morgan on speed’
“‘They were stroking a cat at on their lap the entire zoom call like Dr Evil’
“‘Er, so it turns out I slept with their brother so, er, might be a bit awkward?’
“Some reasons I can understand from clients, first impressions count and it’s up to you as the candidate to sell yourself. But, to discriminate against someone for their weight? It’s just bang out of line and pure bigotry.
“I recruit in new homes sales and it is an industry full of drop-dead gorgeous people. In customer-facing roles, there is an expectation for presentation and it comes without question you need to look the part on site. However, if you want to recruit on the basis of appearance over ability, maybe try a modelling agency.
“Naturally, I have pulled the candidate from the running and made the client aware we are no longer interested in working with them. He didn’t seem to see the issue (of course) and hung up on me along with some other rude words in the mix.”
But size isn’t the only characteristic used to discriminate against potential candidates Faye says, as she claims recently one woman was rejected because she would soon get married and the hirer was worried she might get pregnant.
Faye said: “This young lady was getting married in the next three months and he said ‘she’s getting married? You know what that means’.
“I said I didn’t know what it meant and he said he needed someone committed and people change when they have children.”
Faye’s decision to pull the woman from the running was supported by LinkedIn users, as they branded the man “absolutely disgusting.”
One person said: “I would love to see a picture of this guy. Would he be a suitable candidate for the cover of Men’s Health? It’s usually those that aren’t a 10/10 that would make these kinds of comments.”
Another user wrote: “Just a shame it’s not possible to name and shame. There appears to be a shortage of good new homes sales staff and it would be shame for anyone to work for such a tool!”
A third commented said: “It’s not just size people get turned down for – there are some people out there that won’t take people because they don’t fit their mold, and then the ageist.
“I got told the other day your too old to get the job. People like this don’t deserve the jobs they are in.”
While someone else said: “Wow, I’ve heard some very unsavory reasons not to hire but this is up there with the worst….how do you provide feedback on this as a recruiter?”