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Beauty and success - 12/31/2007 9:04:34 PM

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quote:

IMAGINE you have two candidates for a job. They are both of the same sex—and that sex is the one your own proclivities incline you to find attractive. Their CVs are equally good, and they both give good interview. You cannot help noticing, though, that one is pug-ugly and the other is handsome. Are you swayed by their appearance?

Perhaps not. But lesser, less-moral mortals might be. If appearance did not count, why would people dress up for such interviews—even if the job they are hoping to get is dressed down? And job interviews are turning points in life. If beauty sways interviewers, the beautiful will, by and large, have more successful careers than the ugly—even in careers for which beauty is not a necessary qualification.

If you were swayed by someone's looks, however, would that be wrong? In a society that eschews prejudice, favouring the beautiful seems about as shallow as you can get. But it was not always thus. In the past, people often equated beauty with virtue and ugliness with vice.

http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=10311266&fsrc=nwlgafree

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RE: Beauty and success - 12/31/2007 9:19:30 PM

hisannabelle

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From: Tallahassee, FL, USA
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greetings level,

beauty has always been equated with "the good," and now with wealth, power, and success. having the money to get plastic surgery or a personal trainer or a specific designer label that is supposed to make you beautiful is a status symbol. personally, it makes me very sad. i don't equate it to dressing well for a job interview - to me, that is professional. there is a difference between being professional in what is an acceptable standard for your field and having someone else's idea of what is pretty imposed on you arbitrarily, in my opinion (even if it is society's or conventional beauty's).

i understand the biological reasoning behind some ideas of beauty (for example, to procreate with someone who has good genes), but i think that human beings have taken the issue way too far. for starters, our social concept of beauty lately is actually counterintuitive to this, considering it employs a degree of thinness usually marked by amenorrhea (and thus infertility) due to malnutrition in many people (although it is possible to experience amenorrhea due to malnutrition regardless of weight). i found the article you posted really interesting for the biological implications and the research, but considering that what is socially considered beautiful by the majority of the population these days has not so much to do with biological indicators of good genes anymore, i personally don't believe that the article really follows through on that idea. just my humble opinion.

apologies if i have offended anyone - as someone who has struggled with an eating disorder and body image issues for a long time, and who also writes and deals with awareness on the subject, beauty, the body, and society are very important and emotional topics for me.

respectfully,
annabelle.

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i have the kind of beauty that moves...

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RE: Beauty and success - 12/31/2007 9:42:36 PM

popeye1250

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From: New Hampshire
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Of course I'd hire the good looking one!
Or hire both and put the ugly one out back in the warehouse.

Wait a minute,...are we talking ugly with a great body?

< Message edited by popeye1250 -- 12/31/2007 9:53:42 PM >

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RE: Beauty and success - 12/31/2007 10:07:44 PM

TemptingNviceSub

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How distracted do you wish to be when working, should be the question?..

..Tempting

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RE: Beauty and success - 12/31/2007 10:52:40 PM

petdave

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The only thing that really surprises me is the positive correlation between beauty and intelligence... i knew a lot of pretty people growing up, and while they had money, most of them weren't particularly intelligent. Most of the intelligent people i know- engineers, academics, etc- are in the average- to funny-looking group. While the pretty people i know today are more successful (sales, primarily), they would rank lower in most standard tests of intelligence.

Clearly, our society needs more random acid attacks on the beautiful people in order to level the playing field a bit

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 8:30:31 AM

LadyEllen

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From: Stourport-England
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true story

a few years back, when I was being "encouraged to leave" my former employer because of my transition, I went for an interview with a very large French based transport company, to work for them in the UK.

I dressed in a skirt suit, tights and heels and turned up. The guy doing the interview was most impressed it seemed, big smile - asking me to walk up the stairs (wide enough for two) ahead of him - presumably so he could get the best view of what are pretty good legs, even if I say so myself.

The interview went well - he was all laughing, joking, (for which read, flirting), and the job was in the bag - until I mentioned my transition....

Suddenly the mood changed. The interview was cut short. I didnt get the job.

Funny that

E

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 9:33:37 AM

FullCircle

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I would never say this in my office but I'm a bit sick of all the pretty idiots floating about. I honestly don't think the CV comes into it in a lot of cases. I’ve worked with people that don’t seem to have a clue what they are doing. The problem with my industry is it is male dominated so bosses jump at the chance when a pretty face appears. These bosses are shooting themselves in the foot because the people with real experience and ability are getting passed over because they no longer fit the corporate image of a young dynamic company.

You need a mix of people; old hairy fat blokes and young people learning the ropes. I don’t care what anyone says about natural ability because you can’t walk out of University into any job and be better at that job than the people who have been there for years. There is no University that teaches job specifics and I find that in general workers fall into two categories:

1) Those that discuss what needs to be done and how to go about it (without any specific knowledge of how to do so)
2) Those that ignore the people that discuss how to do things, just do them and get things done.

You may argue that it is possible for people to offer up new ideas and ways of working. Fair enough but that seems to be pure fantasy in most cases as no new ideas ever seem to come forth. I understand the argument that planning saves time latter but there is no real planning required when you have done this same thing a thousand times before. Honestly where do I apply for one of those jobs where people spend the majority of their day in meetings? I’ve been to a few meetings myself and they seem to be progress report type situations i.e.

“FullCircle have you done this yet?”
“No”
“Why not”
“Because I’m in a meeting with you.”
Idiot writes on paper: ‘Fullcircle to do that thing I asked when meeting is finished and report progress at next meeting’

I want to be a bollard cleaner, damn it!

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 9:37:55 AM

FullCircle

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I'd also like to point out that the above does in no way indicate that I am ugly or bitter!

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 9:45:36 AM

sexyred1

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What exactly is the question here? What a ridiculous article. You have to be stupid, blind or both not to know that looks mean a great deal in all walks of life, including business and in getting hired.

Good looking people statistically make more money than unattractive people, fair or not. I just read an article that stated that overweight people make less money than their counterparts in the same jobs, like it or not.

Basically. when it comes to life there is no level playing field, brains or not. Looks get you in the door and sometimes, even keep you in the door, depending on who is holding open the door. You could be a genius and ugly and depending on your business you may not be hired over beautiful and vapid.

This I have seen time and time again in the NY media scene, so many cute twits working in the field it makes your head hurt, while other more seasoned types do not get hired, both men and women that I know. Youth and beauty win over age and wisdom quite often, sad to say.

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 11:38:16 AM

came4U

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From: London, Ontario
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quote:

You cannot help noticing, though, that one is pug-ugly and the other is handsome. Are you swayed by their appearance?

dunno, but I only date pug-ugly men....

makes me look better by comparason.

*chuckles

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 2:50:08 PM

SubbieOnWheels

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Here is one area in which I am glad I am visually impaired - the "looks" factor takes a back seat to the "brains" factor.

I just wish employers didn't seem to think that loss of visual acuity is automatically accompanied by lack of mental acuity.

Beth

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 3:03:22 PM

seeksfemslave

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By and large the looks factor is most important in quite inconsequential things.
When something difficult has got to be done it is the cosmetically challenged folks like me that do it.

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RE: Beauty and success - 1/1/2008 6:29:16 PM

pahunkboy