It just doesn't seem fair in our society which claims that everyone is equal under the law, that good looking people have a better advantage at work for higher pay and quicker advancement than all of us average looking people or in your case, just above average. Okay so, let's discuss all this and consider what's going on here, because maybe the discrimination charge is less than accurate.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on September 1, 2012 titled; "Pretty, Good Performance," which told of a research study that the old belief that better looking people get advanced quicker in their careers was indeed statistically proven, however as a caveat the study also showed that statistically they were also better qualified and achieved higher performance in tests. Now then, how can this be, how can those who have better looks be better than those with average looks.
Well, I have a few thoughts on why this may be. First, if you are good looking everyone is watching you all the time, so if you don't perform they'll notice and you know they are looking because you can sense this and see it. So, you have to always be doing as best you can in the workplace. Since those who care about their looks work to maintain their image for respect and attention, they also work to perform for the same reasons - it's one of their personality traits.
Next, those who appear to be better looking, often appear this way as the human mind likes symmetry. Those who are the most symmetrical are often considered more beautiful when side by side pictures are observed in preference tests. Those who are more symmetrical, perhaps also have a better combination of gene sets, thus, perhaps are also of benefit of better intelligence levels in the brain because of it.
Lastly, those who are better looking are more socially conditioned and read people better, also giving them a boost in working with others, which helps performance at work, and getting others to work with them when they are working in groups or delegating.
Now then, if someone is not good looking, or they happen to look perhaps less than average they may not be expected to do well, and no one may watch them to see that they are, thus, no need to perform at optimum or bother to impress anyone. See that point? So, maybe this is a nurture issue, which perhaps started as a nature issue? Please consider all this and think on it and maybe you should include a picture with your resume?
Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Career Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/
