Sometimes it may seem like attractive people have it all. They have no issue finding romantic partners, get compliments and praise all the time (often from complete strangers), and are almost never considered creepy or weird. And for those of us who apparently missed out on the sexy gene, it stings a little bit.
However, it seems that the gob-smackingly gorgeous folks of the world don't always have it all, as one study has proven that being smokin' hot can actually hinder a person's chances at succeeding in one very important part of life: getting a job.
According to research published by the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, people who are considered more attractive may struggle to get a job if the position is considered "undesirable". This is because interviewers are likely to have a negative bias towards hotter candidates, and hold the belief that they would be better suited to a more "glamorous" position.
That, and there is an assumption that beautiful people are more likely to have a sense of entitlement that simply won't be fulfilled by a job that either doesn't pay too well, or doesn't offer the candidate the opportunity to create a real impact through their position.
The study was conducted by the London Business School, who followed the hiring process of 750 participants - some on the applicant side, and others on the employer side - through four experiments.
In each experiment, subjects were given two photos of potential candidates, one of whom was "conventionally attractive", and the other was "conventionally unattractive". Participants were then asked a set of questions in order to determine their perceptions on how entitled the different candidates would be.
In three out of four of the experiments, the volunteers were asked whether they would hire the two candidates for different jobs - some desirable, and some undesirable. Across the board, people were more likely to hire the sexy candidate for a desirable job, but less likely to give them an undesirable job.
Now, you may be thinking, 'how exactly is that a disadvantage?' But remember - most of us aren't movie stars, and many of us need the "undesirable" jobs in order to get by.
These findings actually contradict previous research, which suggested that the regulation hotties of the world would have triumphed over the token uggos regardless of what job position was on offer - but that simply isn't the case.
Margaret Lee, one of the study's co-authors, concluded the findings of the study by explaining that:
"We found that people perceive attractive individuals to feel more entitled to good outcomes than unattractive individuals.
"Our work suggests that we may need to think differently about low level jobs.
"Jobs that are considered to be less desirable are typically those at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum, including a disproportionate number of people who might be particularly vulnerable if they become victims of discrimination."
Basically, everyone is just a little bit shallow when it comes to judging people by their appearances.
So, if you happen to be one of the finer-looking specimens of human life, first of all: congrats, and, secondly, this is just karma for all those times you got picked to play a main character in the school play while the rest of us were all trees or something.
