The Student Room Group

Do employers slightly favor looks over qualification?

Is the best person for the job hired?

or

Is the person who's slightly less qualified but much better looking hired?

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Reply 1
Attractiveness helps when going for interviews

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Reply 2
Original post by justag
Attractiveness helps when going for interviews

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Why? Why do looks matter?
google the term 'lookism'

yes, people certainly do discriminate on looks
its obvious, they tell you to wear nice clothes at an interview, have nice hair etc
why wouldnt they prefer you to have a nice face?
Probably varies depending on job. If an employer wants a recycling operative then he will want someone with such experience. If someone wants to be a doctor, but is covered in flies then I dont think it matters how good a doctor he is capable of being. No f****r will hire him.
Reply 5
Original post by Straighthate
google the term 'lookism'

yes, people certainly do discriminate on looks
its obvious, they tell you to wear nice clothes at an interview, have nice hair etc
why wouldnt they prefer you to have a nice face?

because that doesn't reflect how well you can work
Original post by Laomedeia
Probably varies depending on job. If an employer wants a recycling operative then he will want someone with such experience. If someone wants to be a doctor, but is covered in flies then I dont think it matters how good a doctor he is capable of being. No f****r will hire him.


yea duh! xD

obviously appropriate basic hygiene is needed :colonhash:

but surely besides that point if one was better looking than the other and one looking better had slightly worse grades why would the slightly better looking one ever be hired?
Reply 6
Mainly for customer-facing roles. You have to be a decent person too though.
Original post by thefatone
because that doesn't reflect how well you can work


yea duh! xD

obviously appropriate basic hygiene is needed :colonhash:

but surely besides that point if one was better looking than the other and one looking better had slightly worse grades why would the slightly better looking one ever be hired?


How the hell would I know. But sometimes experience or personality trumps qualifications. But like you say, could come down to looks too. Employers are based on human anatomy and therefore each one is different so fudge knows.
Original post by Deranged
Mainly for customer-facing roles. You have to be a decent person too though.


McDonalds tend to hire spotty teenagers. But a schitty Mcdonalds cafe aint gonna be able to attract decent employees are they.
Original post by thefatone
because that doesn't reflect how well you can work



these things are subconscious
im pretty sure its been proven that more attractive people generally earn more
Definitely can particularly in corporate roles, employers are human at the end of the day lets say there are two candidates both done well on the interview same amount of experience/education looks and perceived personality is likely to come into play more than it should.
Reply 11
Original post by Straighthate
these things are subconscious
im pretty sure its been proven that more attractive people generally earn more

So it that because attractive people are truly more knowledgeable and are much smarter or they just get chosen over other candidates who may be slightly more qualified due to their looks?
Of course i think it's because we as humans have perfect images of what men and women should be or how the perfect employee should dress behave act etc.Stupid Stupid Stupid Stupid i don't understand it's like physics this doesn't make any sense to me. What are people basing the foundation of that silly behaviour upon? Personally i base some of my thoughts and logic on the Principle of Utility and derive what's useful and form an argument and my own opinion based of it.
Original post by Deranged
Mainly for customer-facing roles. You have to be a decent person too though.
I guess obviously it helps knowledge
Original post by Laomedeia
How the hell would I know. But sometimes experience or personality trumps qualifications. But like you say, could come down to looks too. Employers are based on human anatomy and therefore each one is different so fudge knows.

I agree and the only thing taken into account shouldn't be just qualifications
But looks shouldn't be high at all upon the list of employee traits unless that job requires them to be.
It depends on the job I think. If you're going in for a performance/image based job like acting or modelling or perhaps news reporting, then I would imagine an employer would favour an attractive person to an unattractive person as their industry is built up on image.
Reply 13
Original post by HazMusicPanda
It depends on the job I think. If you're going in for a performance/image based job like acting or modelling or perhaps news reporting, then I would imagine an employer would favour an attractive person to an unattractive person as their industry is built up on image.


Of course but what about a normal office job?

those are the kind i'm interested in....
Original post by thefatone
Of course but what about a normal office job?

those are the kind i'm interested in....


Where are you based?
Reply 15
Original post by Boreism
Where are you based?


In school not uni yet but 6th form
Original post by thefatone
In school not uni yet but 6th form


Thats a shame. My firm are looking for someone (to help support me essentially) but its a full time position. :/
As long as you're at least average looking you'll be fine unless you want to work in the fashion industry or filming industry where unfortunately, you get discriminated for your looks
Reply 18
Original post by Boreism
Thats a shame. My firm are looking for someone (to help support me essentially) but its a full time position. :/


I really wish i could get a part time job, anything, even if it pays bad, i want to earn something.....
Reply 19
Original post by BrianMcEgg
As long as you're at least average looking you'll be fine unless you want to work in the fashion industry or filming industry where unfortunately, you get discriminated for your looks


lol yea of course xD

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