Selfie sabotage

South Africans are doing it too - including selfies with their job applications.

Recruiters in the US, UK and Australia have warned against including selfies in resumés and now local employment agencies have followed suit after noticing a steady increase in their use over the past 18 months.

"Our first reaction was laughter," Mass Staffing Projects managing director Roxanne Dallas said.

She said she could not understand why job candidates included a selfie - a photo taken of oneself with a cellphone - in their CV.

"In the 1990s it was a common practice to include a photo of yourself but that stopped ages ago. And now we have the selfie."

Recruiters have been exposed to selfies taken in cars, bathrooms, gyms and on beds.

"That is just bizarre. We can't understand it.

"We tend not to take the application as seriously as we would if it did not have a selfie. The truth is if that application were sent direct to the employer it would be thrown away.

"Luckily for the applicant, however, we do look beyond the selfie," she said.

Employment hopeful Samantha Reddy said she used to add a selfie to her CV because she thought it would create a good impression with prospective employers.

"Now I know better. I'd rather let the recruiter see who I am when I walk in for the interview," she said.

Another job candidate said she included selfies in applications for jobs that called for black applicants because her name and first language did not indicate her race.

"The recruiter would not know I am black if I did not include the picture," she explained.