The Impact of Appearance

Consider this true story as told to us by one of our clients who, for the purposes of this article, we will refer to as Karl.  After two years of gainful employment with a major retail organization, highlighted by several sales achievement and customer service awards, Karl felt well prepared for career advancement.  When he broached this topic to upper management, he was told that he would be considered for a promotion when a suitable position opened.  A month later, the floor manager in Karl’s department tendered his resignation.  But when Karl once again approached the division manager, he learned that another employee was chosen to fill the position. Understandably perplexed, Karl asked to know the rationale behind this decision.  “If a customer has a problem and wants to speak with someone in charge,” the manager explained, “what am I supposed to do? Point to you and tell the customer to talk to that short man on the selling floor?”

Not all forms of prejudice are as blatant as Karl’s situation.  Although Equal Employment Opportunity legislation was enacted to prevent job-related discrimination, the law, as written, can differ vastly from its practice.  In a society that prizes and glorifies its concepts of good looks, bias based upon an applicant’s appearance is often so subtly ingrained that an employer can be unaware of the fact that he or she is prejudicial.  Married to tall, well-conditioned frames, handsome or pretty countenances can open doors faster and wider than their plainer counterparts.  However, there are exceptions.

Is it possible to be so beautiful that looks can eclipse one’s abilities, clouding the hiring manager’s vision so that all he or she sees are the applicant’s external attributes?  The popular television program, “Beauty and the Geek,” revolves around the accepted premise that attractive individuals are considerably less intellectual, and less capable of reasoning problems through to successful resolution, than their ordinary-looking, more scholarly partners.  Over the months that the program airs and the contestants evolve, this supposition is debunked to a certain degree.  However, a job applicant does not have that luxury of time. Numerous psychological studies have indicated that human beings form impressions of others within the first thirty seconds of meeting them.  How will you be perceived when you face your prospective employer?