Sunday, August 2, 2009

Not sure what to do.

Okay, I know this is my third post of the day, but.... I'm feeling a little uncertain about what to do. There's a job fair coming up next week that I'm planning on going to. The fact that I don't have anything appropriate to wear for job hunting is one problem, but the real issue is: should I wear hijab or not? Niqab would have to be out, unfortunately.

Being single and depending solely upon myself for financial support is great, but also hard because I HAVE to have a job within the next two months. I'm afraid that if I go to this job fair wearing hijab, no company recruiters will want to talk to me, or that if I go to an interview wearing hijab, they'll reject me because of it. Yes, it's illegal, but I've heard a lot of stories from women who experienced that.

What do you guys think I should do? Wear a nice, "professional"-colored hijab, or not wear it?

Either way, once I land a job, I'm totally going to be wearing my hijab. Niqab will depend on what sort of job I get --- if I have to wear an I.D. badge with my photo on it, then I can't wear the niqab at work (for face recognition/security purposes).

4 comments:

  1. Its a hard position to be in. I had a job where I started wearing hijab most of the time a few mos. after I started. There were a lot of other women that wore hijab at this particular job though.
    I started another job after that where I wore a hijab to the interview and got hired, but now I don't wear it as much as I used to.
    It sort of depends on how many other women are wearing hijab where you live and if the employers feel threatened by it.
    If you are really sure you want to cover full time though, I would suggest going ahead and wearing a professional-looking one to the job fair.
    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay... *tries to get up the courage to do it* At any rate, I'm going shopping for "interview-worthy" clothes now. : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Assalaamu alaikum
    It will probably amaze you to know that if you went for a government job in Egypt you couldn't wear niqaab and Egypt is an Islamic country. Here (Jordan) there's no apparent discrimination against women who cover but a friend of mine who just wears hijaab didn't get a job recently, later learning that she had lost out to a less qualified girl who didn't wear hijaab and therefore might "less frightening to foreign clients" !!!!
    Anyway good luck job hunting.
    A.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hmm...I'm going to try to sound intelligent here, so bear with me. ;)

    How much coverage do you believe is required?

    I dress modestly, with up to (at least) my collar bone covered, and cover my hair all the time. This leaves my neck exposed, but that's about it. I use tiechel or the long shayla type scarves tied up in different ways, rather than hijab. However, I live in a place where I've seen one hijabi in 26 years, so I'm not comfortable wearing hijab all the time. I have, however, worn it on occasion without a problem, but I had this job long before I started covering.

    ReplyDelete