"Going for the Look, but Risking Discrimination," Vocabulary from the article

For The New York Times, Steven Greenhouse reports on a nationwide trend in hiring practices. Look at this list to see whether you have what these stores want.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. striking
    sensational in appearance or thrilling in effect
    She looks striking. She looks hip. She looks, in fact, as if she belongs in an Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.
    Another definition that fits is "having a quality that thrusts itself into attention." For the girl described here, the qualities are her 5'6" height and long blond hair. As a participial adjective, the word comes from the verb "strike" so it also means "the physical coming together of two or more things." This definition is not intended by the example sentence, but it is suggested by the stores' use of a striking sales force as the first point of contact with customers.
  2. aggressive
    showing determination and energetic pursuit of your ends
    Abercrombie's aggressive approach to building a pretty and handsome sales force, an effort that company officials proudly acknowledge, is a leading example of what many industry experts and sociologists describe as a steadily growing trend in American retailing.
  3. sleek
    well-groomed and neatly tailored
    From Abercrombie to the cosmetics giant L'Oréal, from the sleek W hotel chain to the Gap, businesses are openly seeking workers who are sexy, sleek or simply good-looking.
    Grouped with the adjectives "sexy" and "good-looking," "sleek" has a positive tone that connects to being smooth, shiny, and slim (and offering the least resistance to fluid flow). But in the past, the adjective was only used to describe healthy animal hair, and when applied to people, it admired their plumpness. It is also a variant of "slick" which has the negative connotation of being clever at tricking people by getting them to focus on appearances.
  4. sophisticated
    having worldly knowledge and refinement
    But many companies have taken that approach to sophisticated new heights in recent years, hiring workers to project an image.
  5. contentious
    showing an inclination to disagree
    That is where things can get confusing and contentious.
  6. discrimination
    unfair treatment of a person or group based on prejudice
    ''If you're hiring by looks, then you can run into problems of race discrimination, national origin discrimination, gender discrimination, age discrimination and even disability discrimination,'' said Olophius Perry, director of the Los Angeles office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has accused several companies of practicing race and age discrimination by favoring good-looking young white people in their hiring.
  7. attractive
    pleasing to the eye or mind as through beauty or charm
    Some chains, most notably the Gap and Benetton, pride themselves on hiring attractive people from many backgrounds and races.
  8. pervasive
    spreading or spread throughout
    Abercrombie's ''classic American'' look, pervasive in its stores and catalogs and on its Web site, is blond, blue-eyed and preppy.
    "Preppy" can be a synonym for "sleek." From the verb "prepare," it describes someone who is preparing for college at a preparatory school. Prep schools are often private and expensive, and the style of clothing preferred by the students is often neat and somewhat formal. Just as too much grooming can seem sleek, too much preparation can seem fake. Like "pervasive" (which has the same root as "invade"), "preppy" can take on a negative tone.
  9. retail
    the selling of goods to consumers
    ''If that person said, 'I never worked in retailing before,' we said: 'Who cares? We'll hire you.' But if someone came in who had lots of retail experience and not a pretty face, we were told not to hire them at all.''
  10. bias
    a partiality preventing objective consideration of an issue
    Tom Lennox, Abercrombie's communications director, emphatically denied job bias but acknowledged that the company liked hiring sales assistants, known as brand representatives, who ''look great.''
  11. ambassador
    an informal representative
    ''Brand representatives are ambassadors to the brand,'' Mr. Lennox said.
    An ambassador is also "a diplomat of the highest rank." By giving their "brand representatives" this extra title, the company is trying to build an image that suggests they are high-class, diplomatic ("showing skill and sensitivity in dealing with people"), and open to negotiations with the world. By focusing on "natural classic American style," they are also suggesting that their ambassadors (and their company) represent America.
  12. enthusiasm
    a feeling of excitement
    'We want to hire brand representatives that will represent the Abercrombie & Fitch brand with natural classic American style, look great while exhibiting individuality, project the brand and themselves with energy and enthusiasm, and make the store a warm, inviting place that provides a social experience for the customer.''
  13. critical
    urgently needed; absolutely necessary
    Being able to find a brand enhancer, or what I call a walking billboard, is critical.
    The adjective also means "characterized by careful evaluation and judgment" and "marked by a tendency to find and call attention to flaws." These definitions do not apply to the example sentence, but they can describe the tone of the article towards the hiring practices.
  14. enticing
    highly attractive and able to arouse hope or desire
    It's really important to create an environment that's enticing to the community, particularly with the younger, fashionable market.
  15. upscale
    relating or appealing to wealthy or high-status consumers
    While hiring by looks has a long history, some sociologists and retail consultants agree that the emphasis has increased -- not at Wal-Mart and other mass marketers, but at upscale businesses.
  16. trendy
    in accord with the latest fad
    The waitress, Michele Cornell, had worked at the restaurant for 23 years, but when it reopened after renovations, it refused to rehire her because, the commission said, she no longer fit the young, trendy look it had adopted.
  17. strapping
    muscular and heavily built
    Employers who insisted on hiring only strapping, tall people might be found guilty of discriminating against Mexican-Americans or Asian-Americans, who tend to be shorter, she added.
  18. incompetent
    not qualified or suited for a purpose
    Elysa Yanowitz says that when she was a West Coast sales manager for L'Oréal, she felt intense pressure to hire attractive saleswomen, even if they were incompetent.
  19. quality
    an essential and distinguishing attribute of something
    ''It was pretty well understood that they had to have magazine-look quality,'' she said of the sales force.
  20. perception
    a way of conceiving something
    Melissa Milkie, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland who has written about perceptions of beauty, said: ''Good-looking people are treated better by others.
Created on Thu May 07 13:41:54 EDT 2015 (updated Mon May 11 18:51:44 EDT 2015)

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