Are attractive people more likely to get employed?

By siliconindia   |   Saturday, 27 November 2010, 13:21 IST   |    2 Comments
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Are attractive people more likely to get employed?
Bangalore: Are attractive people having more chances to get employed? According to a study by two Israeli economists, it depends on whether the applicant is a male or female, writes Catherine Rampell of the New York Times. Bradley J. Ruffle and Ze'ev Shtudiner, the two economists noted that in Europe and Israel, job applicants are increasingly asked to attach head-shots of themselves in the top corner of their resumes. The two sent 5,312 resumes in pairs to 2,656 advertised job openings. In each pair, one resume had no photo while the second contained a picture of either an attractive or unattractive male or female. The results showed that it was men who enjoyed a higher rate of beauty premium than women. They found that attractive men use to get more callbacks from their employers compared to the men with no picture and to plain-looking men. On the other hand, attractive women do not enjoy the same beauty premium. In fact, women with no picture have a significantly higher rate of callbacks than attractive or plain-looking women. It is the female jealousy of attractive women in the workplace is a primary reason for the punishment of attractive women, according to the study. As per the figures, resumes of attractive males produce a 19.7 percent response rate on average, almost 50 percent higher than the 13.7 percent response rate for pictureless males and more than twice the 9.2 percent response rate for plain-looking males.