Good-looking female job seekers penalised by HR, finds study

But handsome men advised to send photo with their CV

HR professionals tend to discriminate against attractive female job applicants who include a photo of themselves, but they favour good looking men who do the same, new research has revealed.

A study, by the Royal Economic Society, looking at “beauty” bias among recruiters found that good looking women who send a picture in with their job application were invited for fewer interviews than plainer candidates or people who do not include a picture.

But, conversely, handsome men who send a photo in with their CV were more likely to be called for interview than less attractive men.

Researchers said the study “proves that there is a double standard between good looks as a positive factor in men versus women”.

They also found that recruiters are more likely to be women in their 20s who are “more likely to be jealous when confronted with an attractive woman in the workplace but not an attractive man,” leading to the double standard results.

The findings contradict current psychology and organisational behaviour research on beauty, which associates attractiveness, for men and women, with almost every conceivable positive trait and disposition, researchers said.

The study was carried out in Israel where it is not unusual to include a photo with a job application - unlike in the UK and US - making it a good job market to explore the effect of a picture on recruiters.

Researchers sent out more than 5,300 CVs for 2,650 job vacancies, sending two applications for each job.

One contained a photo of an attractive man or woman, or a plain-looking man or woman. The other CV was identical in qualifications and experience, but did not contain a photograph.

The study is ‘Are Good-Looking People More Employable? Evidence from a Field Experiment’ by Ze’ev Shtudiner, Ariel University Center, and Bradley Ruffle, Ben Gurion University.

Source People Management