Should You Ditch Your Engagement Ring for Job Interviews?

Recently, there has been controversy surrounding a LinkedIn article written by male chauvinist Bruce Hurwitz, a career counselor and executive recruiter who apparently is stuck in the 1950’s and thinks women should pander to men’s expectations. In his viral post, Hurwitz tells the story of how he helped a woman land a job by advising her to take off her engagement ring for the job interview.

Now, to his credit, he wasn’t suggesting it so the woman would appear single and ready to mingle, but rather he said her ring was too large and so men would consider her high-maintenance and women would be envious. Unfortunately, the woman did get the job offer and claims it was the first she received in a long line of failed interviews and she claims the only difference was the missing engagement ring.

Should women ditch their engagement rings

So, should women ditch their engagement rings? And if that’s the case, what about once they are married? Should we leave all sentimental jewelry at home in fear of making someone uncomfortable? Absolutely positively not. Because where will it stop?

By all means, let me leave my superior intellect at home so you can feel like the “top dog” without being threatened by me. Or, let me portray whatever image you have in your head of what a woman in the workplace should be. Nope. Screw that.

We are women. And that means we are strong and intelligent and beautiful and anything else that we decide we want to be! It is not our duty to lessen our shine so someone else is more comfortable with it.

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Not to mention the fact that I am pretty sure your fiancé or husband bought you that rock so you would wear it every day as a sign to the world that you’re spoken for. How would you feel if he took off his wedding band to get a job? Does that fill you with anger? Because it does me.

Stand out from the crowd

Instead, let’s be ourselves and show prospective employers why our unique traits are valuable to their company. Stand out from the crowd and be proud of who you are even if that person is a little high maintenance. That just means you know you are worth more than average, and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

So Bruce Hurwitz can take his advice and hit the road. We don’t need him or his antiquated views of women. The world can be sexist enough as it is. Let’s show them that it’s not okay to treat us differently or pay us less just because we are women.

Let’s fight for equality and not against other women anymore. It is about so much more than a piece of jewelry, it is about standing up for every woman both now and in the future. It is about showing our daughters and our daughter’s daughters that we are every bit as strong and valuable as our male counterparts.

Rock that engagement ring, girl. And give them hell while you are at it!