Seen many adverts like this (my bold text) ???

dave
--------------

Executive Assistant 100%
Are you interested in a new challenge in an internatioal environment? Our
client is looking for you! Don’t wait, apply now! Art des Unternehmens: Financial advisory
Arbeitsort:
Stadt Zürich
Eintritt:
per sofort
Aufgaben:
Management in administrative matters
A good understanding of the unit’s client base and global network Understanding how her / his own work ties in with the "big picture". An awareness of the quantitative and qualitative unit targets, identifies
with them and strives toward the joint achievement of these goals with
dedication and determination.
She/he loves to have contacts at all levels (qualities required to work with
very high level people.)
Anforderungen:
Fluent in German and English (bilingual would be perfect, other languages an
advantage)
Many years experience within multinational environment
Team-, support- and service oriented
Reliable, upright and honest
Well organised, accurate and efficient
Used to work under pressure, setting adequate priorities
Strong interpersonal skills (interacting with others effectively and
purposefully, good team player)
Experience working in a consulting, law, or accounting firm are compulsory
Appealing appearance
Kontaktperson:
Frau Angie Schalk
Telefon: 044 225 40 36
E-Mail: angela.schalk@kellyservices.ch
Kelly Services (Schweiz) AG
Löwenstrasse 29
8023 Zürich

I always liked the line:

"Those not interested need not apply..."

I don't think many Executives could satisfy those requirements, let alone an assistant.

dave

So are you applying then Dave?

She/he obviously needs to be able to proactively prioritize while demonstrating awareness of big picture issues and facilitating unit targets. Me, well, I'd just do my nails and chat to my friends on the work phone.

dave

I'm job hunting at the moment & see so much discrimination in job ads on a daily basis. It is OK to discriminate against male or female or on age so why not looks?

Looks like their looking for someone who can help wash their dirty money white, and who also has a persil appearance.

They just could'nt advertise ,we need some corrupt dude to help us launder our dirty money, could they?

Is my appearance appealing enough?

Err ... that's a *really* nice avatar you have there. Stick with it

In fairness, some Executive Assistants / PAs are super talented people who put their bosses to shame. I spent some time working for a PA to the head of a large department at a bank here and she was such a spectacular 'assistant' I was in awe. She was an Executive Director, but still 'assisted'

JamicainRum.

Definitely, you would pass un-noticed,I'll bet you have already applied for the job and already been offered it.

Good luck in your new job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stuff like this seems perfectly acceptable in CH. People don't even notice.
Some apartment rentals also note "Nur für CH-Bürger". How is that for discrimination!

OTOH, they could have said "include photo with application".

I like the "upright" requirement, is that as in a) not laid back b) good posture c) biped c) awake .... mind boggles.

Daniel

Maybe they have misspelt it, and the "r" should be a "t".

dave

"appealing appearance" - if that was written by a Swiss I assume it's a translation of "gepflegtes Aeusseres" (I'm on a UK keyboard, can you tell ).

Which means the candidate should shower & shave regularly and the girls should were a bit of make up. Doesn't mean he/she needs to be a model. Reasonable request IMO if you meet/greet clients on a regular basis - something you can't ask for in UK but the bad apples just get knocked a stage later (since you can't ask for photos either).

I'm not a big fan of "anti discrimination" measures since there's always a way round and they usually don't really help those that need it, but that's a different story...

I don't know, as they have posted the advert in English. I can only respond to the words in the advert.

I think the best kind of anti-discrimination measures are the qualitive ones, making it illegal to discriminate on grounds of age, sex, ethnic background etc. You may discard the "bad apples" because you were shallow enough not to be able to see what is important for the role, but at least if a prospective employee was in the frame and rejected, it gives him or her some grounds for redress. If he doesn't even apply then discrimination goes unchecked and unrecognised.

dave

I see where you're coming from, Dave.

I believe however that those measures actually don't work, there's plenty of retarded people out there that wouldn't give a job to a foreigner (as an example) because they think they can't do the job just as good. Proving that you or me as a foreigner not getting the job because of your nationality is nearly impossible.

Making it illegal to discriminate just hides the fact that there's still plenty of discrimination going on.

Its interesting to note the "mother tongue" requirements classified as indirect discrimination, as this is so often seen in swiss adverts.

dave


This is how it is treated in UK:
"What is racial discrimination?

The Race Relations Act 1976 makes discrimination on racial grounds unlawful in employment, training, education, and the provision of goods, facilities and services (both in the private and public sectors). The Act defines two main types of discrimination: direct discrimination and indirect discrimination.
Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably on racial grounds. Racial grounds include not only grounds of race but also those of colour, nationality, citizenship, and ethnic or national origin.
Example: A dress manufacturing company advertises in the local newspaper for a Turkish machinist.
Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination occurs when rules, requirements, or conditions that appear to be fair — because they apply equally to everyone — can be shown to put people from a particular racial group at a much greater disadvantage than others, and the rules cannot be objectively justified. A racial group may be defined by race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or national or ethnic origin.
Example: An advertisement asks for ability to speak Bengali. This requirement discriminates indirectly against people who do not speak Bengali, and will be unlawful unless it can be justified by the nature of the job. For example, it would be justifiable to ask for a Bengali speaker if the job involves working with people who can communicate well only in Bengali.
Example: An advertisement invites applicants who speak English as their mother tongue. This requirement, too, discriminates indirectly against people who speak English fluently, but not as their mother tongue. This kind of requirement will rarely be justifiable. If an especially high standard of English is needed for a particular job, it would be better to ask for just that: ‘a very high standard of written and spoken English’, or, alternatively, ‘fluent English’.
Example: The Race Relations Act does not cover discrimination on religious grounds, but advertisements inviting Muslim or Christian applicants may discriminate indirectly against some racial groups, and the requirements must be justified by the nature of the job. A religious requirement may be justifiable for jobs connected with a church, temple, mosque, etc, and, possibly, religious organisations."

I like that description, Dave - there's a lot of common sense in there.

Do you think it's changed the chances of minorities getting a job in UK? For me as a foreigner in UK, I believe it hasn't... but then again that could be just me.

Regarding the "mother tongue" - I'm not quite sure if that's employers being blatantly racist or just a very bad choice of wording...?

Slap on the wrist if I'm going to OT.

I don't know if its bad wording, and I would love to give such employers the benefit of the doubt ...but then... you hear about "coded expressions" in Zeugnis (job reference) documents. It makes me wonder if many of these expressions are similarly coded to discourage the "wrong" kind of applicant.

dave