Do employers ever factor fitness into the hiring decision for a white collar job?

Maybe there is this situation: two candidates: one who is obviously very fit and muscular, another who is really fat and out of shape.



Would you take fitness into consideration? Assume this is a white collar job, such as software engineer or secretary.....Do employers ever factor fitness into the hiring decision for a white collar job?No company would admit it due to discrimination laws. But your appearance will play a factor. If you appear to be fit this communicates a lot of positive ideas about you. The idea that you are disciplined and successful, that you will be more likely to be positive and energetic. That you will have more passion and drive. That you will be more fun to work with. It will accentuate all of the positive ways someone could view you and gloss over some of the negative ways someone could view you.



In fact from my experience hiring and working in both construction and a professional environment, I think fitness matters even more for a white collar job than it does for a blue collar job. In the blue collar job, fitness does not always tell you who will work harder. But fitness does seem to tell you who is likely to be living a more balanced life, who will generally be happier and more social, and who will be more impressive to clients or colleagues.



That being said there are plenty of successful people who are a joy to work with who are out of shape. In fact most people in the work force are out of shape. So if one is out of shape there is no reason to sell themselves short. I don't think it counts against you a great deal. I just think when you are in shape it counts for you a great deal.



In the end it is your personality and your ability to do the job well that will determine wether you are the right fit for the people hiring you. Fitness is just something in the background that is either working for you or against you. It is an image thing. But substance can outweigh image if the substance is proven. If you are positive, no one will think you are negative just because you are out of shape.