[itchyouch]

Interestingly, it was a culture shock when I saw that in other countries (that tend to have a more homogenous ethnic population) informally require photos. Not having a photo on a resume almost guaranteed the resume would go into the trash.

Even more of a culture shock was how much more open people are about their biases in those cases. "We can't have someone short doing job X, or they don't have a friendly face for Y, etc."

[prawn]

Several years ago, I had a Dutch girl apply for a traineeship-level position with my business in Australia, and she included a number of photos, including a 'glamour' shot of her straddling a chair. Quite bizarre.

[hkt]

Did you hire her?

[prawn]

The trainees cost USD$100/week, but for a very small business, ensuring trainees get a good working and learning experience chews a lot of time hand-holding and so I passed.

[account42]

The reality is that for many jobs the appearance actually does matter.

[thenthenthen]

100% My partner had chestnut brown painted hair, she had to wear a black wig in order to work at 711 in China.