Smoking and employment: what is the extra word?

Yes, employment is rather hard for every smoker. Job interview turns to be a torture because of questions like “do you smoke?” in application form. I still do not know the correct answer to this question from the interviewer. It is hard to admit that you smoke. In this case you are automatically considered to be a bad employee.

Smoking and drinking are doubtlessly bad habits. But for employers smoking is the worst. When you smoke a cigarette, you waste time, your working time. It turns out that you steal money from the company – the money you get for doing your job, not for smoking. That’s what HR-managers think about smokers.

So before the interview a difficult decision should be made. To admit that you ARE a smoker is equivalent to admitting that you are a bad employee. This honesty minimizes your chances to get a good job. To mislead the employer seems to be better. But this fraud will be clear in future and nobody would trust you any more. Even if they would be pitiful and leave you at work – forget about career in this place!

The attitude to women-smokers is worse than to men who smoke. Sometimes in male team an image of a good boss is “working 12 hours a day, constantly drinking coffee and smoking” Women who smoke are considered to be “odd”, and if she is a boss she is considered to be a bitch and manlike. It is very hard to destroy this image. And this is one of the main reasons I am fighting hard to give up smoking.