Sunday, August 8, 2010

Being beautiful can kill your Job Chances



While being beautiful may have opened a lot of doors for you, getting a job may not be as easy, according to a new study.

A new University of Colorado Denver Business School study reveals that attractive women face discrimination when it comes to landing certain kinds of jobs.

For titles like manager of research and development, director of finance, mechanical engineer and construction supervisor, attractive women are considered ‘too masculine’.

“In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn’t the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender,” said Stefanie Johnson.

The study showed that in job categories like director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow truck driver, attractive women were overlooked.

However, attractive people do tend to score when it comes to salaries, performance evaluations and college admissions.

“In jobs involving face-to-face client contact, such as sales, more physically attractive applicants could conceivably perform better than those who are less attractive,” said Johnson.

The results indicate that attractiveness was more beneficial for women applying for feminine sex-typed jobs than masculine sex-typed jobs.

The authors said that managers have to rely more on information from the individual rather than on stereotypes about physical appearance.

The study is released in the May/June Journal of Social Psychology.

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