mod (Andy) note: "Blast from the past - Best of Eddie" - This one is originally from December 2010. If there's an old post from Eddie you'd like to see up again shoot me a message.
I have a feeling this is going to spark some controversy, but a new study conducted by Ben Gurion University shows that ugly women are twice as likely to get a call back to interview than attractive women with identical qualifications. The researchers attributed the disparity to the fact that HR departments are primarily staffed with women, on average single and 29-years old (I can hear that biological clock ticking from here), and they surmised that the rejection of more attractive candidates was based on a jealous response.
Needless to say, the opposite is true for male candidates. If you are male, the more attractive you are the more likely you are to receive a call back - according to the study. The study was conducted by sending out 5,000 resumés to various employers, all identical in qualification, half with no photo attached and the other half with photos split 50-50 between attractive candidates and unattractive candidates.
Attractive males received a 19.9 per cent call back rate, almost 50 per cent higher than the 13.7 per cent response for plain men and more than twice the 9.2 per cent response to those with no photo.
I know the rule of thumb is to never send a photo with your resumé, but maybe you should think about it if you're really good looking (and male, obviously). The same holds true if you're female and hideous. Can't hurt, right?
My own personal experience bears this notion out. At the places I've worked where men were in charge of the hiring decisions, our receptionists were always smokin' hot. Some of them couldn't even work the phones, which frankly became a nuisance after a while. At other places I've worked where women handled the hiring, well, let's just say there are plenty of 60-year old receptionists out there too.
I'm not sure I'm ready to reach the same conclusion as the researchers, but it's definitely food for thought:
After the experiment, they contacted the person at the company who screened the applications, and found that in 96 per cent of cases they were women. They were typically single and an average age of 29 – "qualities more likely to be associated with a jealous response when confronted with a young, attractive competitor in the workplace", the team said.
So, who among us has attached a photo with their resumé? How did it work? Are any of you going to try it now? If any she-monkeys care to attach a photo to their comment, I'm sure the guys on the site will be happy to let you know what your chances of a call back are...
Shit... I should have used this picture when sending out my resume. Damn. Too little, too late. If unattractiveness lands women jobs, my first job would be replacing Blankfein. LOL
Haha. Read this the other day, I think it's more of a European or Asian thing to attach pics though.
Yeah, that or real estate agents lol.
This reminds me of a post a few months back about a guy that wanted to put down modeling on his resume (he was calling it "representing the brand" or smth like that) and everyone was laughing at him for even mentioning it... Had the guy attached a picture along with the description, then he would've been GOLDEN! Shows what we know, haha
I agree with this article and amused that someone wrote about it!
Interviewing with 29 year old HR girls is a slam dunk
I just saw a resume for a miss world finalist, don't remember any of her qualifications but told HR to call her in.
This was my experience at a recent BB event. The women outside of HR were very nice to the other attractive girls and me, (by "attractive" girls I mean at the very least fixed themselves up with proper makeup and hair, cute figures, not ghastly mugs, etc.) but the women in HR were absolutely awful to us. They were barely even willing to speak to us and very discouraging to everyone, regardless of qualifications.
So should I also write my cover letters like addressed to a 29 year old soap-opera watching girl, instead of using my best military style adressed to some 60 year old veteran general. D: ?
In the end, wittyness humour and overall temperament of your writing will make different impact on different people. I ussually wouldn't write Proustian or Malrauxian, or even Joycian for my cover letter, but if some idiotic 29 year old single girl is reading my stuff , I might go with Salinger or Lovecraft. XD
interesting... perhaps throwing up a good looking picture on Linked-in would be beneficial if you're a dude. I've noticed when applying for jobs that I get hits on my profile from HR people and analysts at other firms... I dunno though, the analysts may think you're a DB. And I guess once someone's gone as far as your linked-in page they've gone to your firm's website and seen the hugely, really DB, smiley ass photo of you on the "team" part of the site (...dammit!)
I actually had a really cool picture up there at first (cheeks sucked in "blue steel" style) but then the CEO made me take a new one after saying i looked "like a fucking bartender"
"How Feminism Destroyed the American Woman". Forthcoming best seller by yours truly.
Pretty interesting. You'd think the hotties would get the calls.
Wow, someone hates their mommy.
Also, HR can just go to hell; not letting pretty ladies in and keeping ugly ass men like me out.
WOrd!
But when they get to the MDs the hot girls got a huge advantage since they are normally old men at that level.I wonder if the good looking men get an advantage with senior staff
what a load of crap. It's just one more attempt by the man to try to divide us womenz so we are to busy fighting one another instead of breaking the glass ceiling... :P I take this just as seriously as the advice I have received to use my looks to my advantage to get in the door for interviews.
In reality, I could see some truth to this. I would never attach my photo to my CV, in Europe it has become standard and I find it odd. I would never think oh, that biatch in HR is just a hater because I'm prettier than her. Lame....
Full disclosure: I'm a former beauty queen myself ;-)
Pics or you don't exist.
haha typical answer. you get a pic when I get an interview?
I'm actually inteviewing in a few hours for a boutique M&A firm. Should I black one of my teeth out just to be safe?
HAHAHA.
Couldn't hurt.
I think a lot of this "bitchiness" amongst women is imagined.Women can't be that catty, aren't they supposed to be more mature ?
It's not imagined
All chicks fucking hate each other.
If you have been in any kind of coed-club where there is a selection process, you would know that chicks always sink chicks that are hotter, or just hot, in the applicant pool.
Don't know why handsome dudes get selected preferentially. They probably have more confidence, which everyone likes.
Homely girls are always mean to the pretty ones
Homely girls are always mean to the pretty ones
.
omg so true, and a few of my friends agree.
male interviewers ftw
Heh, reminds me of how studies show taller guys are more successful overall.
Ah wells, that said, I wonder if studies like this will affect how upper management treat hiring. I believe (not sure) Goldman Sachs actually hires more women in South Korea actually due to the supposed prejudice against women in the business field over there so they can take advantage of a more lucrative market.
.
Nice pic !
Isn't the V (Video) Resume the thing that's going on, for like two years already ?
A good-looking woman generally will land a job ahead of of a male when males do the hiring. Period. Who said life was fair ? Guys, especially in a hard-nosed industry like this, think women are some manna from heaven.
So, as a male, your odds are better when competing against unattractive women.
The part that when women do the hiring attractive men get a leg up I don't buy.
Eddie, is the pic of you at your last wedding?
Ha! More than a passing resemblance, actually.
So true
I’ve been experiencing this phenomenon in the past few years (I’m a woman). It’s completely bizarre, but whenever a woman interviews me, I don’t get the position and she often grills me or tries to somehow bring me down. Whenever a man interviews me, the conversation is always amiable and I often get the position. I think the whole “being extremely attractive will open doors for you” talk is complete and utter BS. So far it’s frequently hurt me. Maybe it’s because I’m naturally not approachable and a lot of people find me intimidating, but give me a break…Ugly women should stay in the kitchen and leave the hiring to men.
Your analysis is wrong. Being attractive has helped you, because when men (who would naturally be biased in favor of an attractive woman) interview you, you succeed. Conversely, when women meet you, they get petty and put you down. It's not bizarre, it's innate human nature.
Does it hurt the chances of an attractive male being hired when the person screening the applications is also male? Also when is it appropriate to include a photo with the application? Also is it acceptable to doctor photos like they do for models?
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