Bengaluru Woman Claims She Was Rejected For A Job For Fair Complexion, Sparks Online Debate

In a world that prides itself on being progressive and inclusive, discrimination based on physical appearance remains an unfortunate reality. Human civilization has a long history of discrimination against people based solely on their looks. Although inclusiveness and acceptance are actively encouraged in modern communities, prejudices based on physical characteristics, still exist in many facets of daily life.

Color discrimination, particularly racism, is one of the most dangerous ongoing problems among the numerous types of physical appearance-based discrimination. Even when they have the requisite abilities and credentials, people from racial and ethnic minorities frequently encounter obstacles while trying to find work.

Despite major advances in encouraging diversity and equality, people still encounter prejudice and bias because of their looks. This issue is more apparent in the job market, where applicants frequently experience unfair treatment due to color prejudice. It recently happened with a recruitment professional from Bengaluru who claimed that she was denied a job opportunity due to her fair skin tone.

Bengaluru woman claimed that she denied a job due to a fair complexion

A Bengaluru-based recruitment professional has claimed she failed to secure a job because her skin tone is too fair. Pratiksha Jichkar named netizen tweeted an image of an email she allegedly received from the company after three rounds of interviews and one assignment.

Jichkar said in a lengthy post about her rejection that she had been rejected despite having all the necessary credentials and abilities. She allegedly added that in the email, the company said that her pale skin tone doesn’t represent the team’s diversity. As a result, the company chose not to offer her the position.

The email said:

“Hi Pratiksha, thank you for interviewing with us and being patient throughout the process. Unfortunately, we cannot move ahead with you for the role at this time. We found your profile relevant and all skills and qualifications match what we are looking for but we are an inclusive organisation and believe in equal opportunity for all. Your skin tone is little fair for the current team so we don’t want differences in our internal team, and we decided not to offer you.”

Jichkar posted the screenshot to LinkedIn and claimed to be “stunned” and “shocked” by the reaction. She also urged the unidentified organization to change its hiring practices so that candidates are chosen based only on their qualifications rather than their skin tone.

Below is the complete post shared on LinkedIn

Netizens raised questions about the authenticity of the post

The post received a lot of attention on LinkedIn, where it received over 14,000 likes as of now, and it also went viral on Reddit and Twitter. Nevertheless, a lot of individuals on social sites questioned the authenticity of her story.

Some Reddit users pointed out that the language used in the email seemed highly unlikely to be drafted by a competent HR professional. They countered that, in general, HRs refrain from providing explicit rejection justifications in emails, especially in this situation. They, therefore, assumed it to be a potential PR ploy or a made-up narrative to garner attention.

Similar thoughts were expressed on Twitter. Many asserted that even if such a scenario existed, no firm would clearly state it as a cause for rejection. Following the criticism and skepticism, Jichkar disabled comments on her post, further fueling doubts about the authenticity of her claims.

Saw this on LinkedIn today. This was just a publicity stunt. It ain’t real. 😭

— Diksha Tomar (@dikshatomarr) July 25, 2023

This is some kind of fake news to get attention?

— Noisee (@avakaya_badda) July 25, 2023

I find this to be a pure publicity stunt. No organization would state this in the rejection mail.
Seems like it’s absolutely fabricated.
To itni attention mt do isko 🗿

— Divyangi Raghav (@DivzzTwt) July 25, 2023

What do you think about the claims?