[john_b]

Interestingly, I just spoke with a colleague yesterday who admitted (without shame) that he recently campaigned (successfully) to have an attractive female hired into his group. I asked him about her qualifications, and he said she seemed capable, but not exceptional. He stressed that, at least to him, her appearance outweighted her abilities.

Incidents like this make me wonder if some sort of anonymous interviewing could be implemented in certain industries, and whether the benefits associated with mitigating prejudices would outweigh the intangible benefits associated with getting to know someone as a whole person during the hiring process.

[mtrimpe]

Not to mention that incidents like this debase the efforts of (possibly attractive) women whom are trying to compete on merits instead.

As far as I'm concerned blatant positive discrimination such as this should be treated as harshly as af it were negative discrimination based on race.

[groby_b]

I honestly hope you acquainted your colleague with HR.

That's completely unacceptable behavior. (And I know that I personally wouldn't want that job if those had been the hiring criteria)

[Evbn]

Google, for example, does not have teams make hiring decisions for teammates.