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I'm going to buck the trend and say that candidates with attractive photos are quite possibly actually more competent. When hiring, I consider the content of a

by maxk42 4y ago

I'm going to buck the trend and say that candidates with attractive photos are quite possibly actually more competent. When hiring, I consider the content of a resume and not its aesthetics. But the people who go the extra mile to add polish: An attractive, well-formatted resume; being well-dressed for an interview; and even adding polish to a photo - are likely candidates who express the added attention to detail I'm looking for in many roles. (Especially in design-focused roles.) Does it beat years of experience or technical competency? Absolutely not. But much like technical interviews not being a strong signal for a person's competency at a particular role they are still treated as a signal. You can have a polished photo without being an attractive person. So perhaps this study is actually measuring to some extent the perception of a person's professionalism and attention to detail rather than their inherent attractiveness. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. Which isn't to say some people may be hired based on actual attractiveness rather than their perceived capabilities, which shouldn't be a factor generally. But if you're going to get indignant about people being hired based on looks then you'd better stop using sites more attractive than craigslist or products more attractive than crocs.

vmception 4y ago
You can also get a feel for how well somebody can a see computer screen or at all based on the filter result they choose superimposed eye lashes that are a little misplaced extremely blurred skin far beyond removing blemishes lol
jjeaff 4y ago
You used the qualifier "especially for design centered roles". I would maybe amend that to "only for design centered roles and a few others". If I want to hire a hard core algorithm coder or a top level security specialist, I might not consider a neat and polished resume a negative signal, but I certainly wouldn't consider a less polished resume a negative signal. Because my experience with the type of people that are very good at those skills is that many couldn't care less about their profile photo or the font they use on their resume.
_Parfait_ 4y ago
"But if you're going to get indignant about people being hired based on looks then you'd better stop using sites more attractive than craigslist or products more attractive than crocs." Your first point raised about someone caring about their looks and the way their presented is a good one. But this last quote is strange.. If you're being hired for a non customer facing role do you really think this craigslist comparison is a fair one? I can get as gussied up as I can for a photo, but is it fair that the guy that looks more like Jake Gyllenhaal got hired even though I have a better skill set?
- maxk42 4y ago
  If that had happened, then no. But it didn't.
  - dekelpilli 4y ago
    > In study 1, beautifying filters increased perceived hireability irrespective of job type But it does.
    - maxk42 4y ago
      And as I said: That isn't fair. But it also doesn't detract from my point that the people who put more effort into their applications are likely to also put more effort into their work. Once again: It's not a strong signal, but it's a signal.
Retric 4y ago
I found the opposite. People with simple utilitarian resumes tended to have more actual accomplishments, while people who focused on what their résumé looked like tended to have glaring issues they where trying to hide. Though I suspect this varies quite a bit by role.
- antiterra 4y ago
  Have worked at big SV companies where HR is forwarding the text paste of the resume with no corrected format. I would never tell someone not to make their resume look polished, but I have definitely seen people get lucrative jobs with a jumbled mess.
sjhuang26 4y ago
Perhaps the "polish" of the resume is a signal for "professionalism and attention to detail." But I worry that the professionalism of the resume is a signal mostly for wealth and social status, factors which should be ignored in the hiring process. So I think that unless the resume is atrociously formatted, its "polish" should be ignored. I read an article on LinkedIn [1] touching on a similar issue. The ideal resume quality standard is "not a lesson that every school or household teaches equally" and giving undue consideration to it may be "creating unnecessary barriers to entry for certain groups." However, I think your experience in the hiring process is valid and would be open to changing my mind. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/should-candidates-be-rejected-for-typos-or-resume-gaps https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisi...
- dijonman2 4y ago
  > But I worry that the professionalism of the resume is a signal mostly for wealth and social status What?
  - noirbot 4y ago
    It's just generally easier to do more things well/professionally when you're well off and have the time to work on it or hire someone to do it. It's similar to the issues with standardized testing in schools. If your parents are wealthy and able to get you better test prep or tutoring, you'll do better on the test, and likely be actually more academically successful aside from it. It doesn't mean that one should totally ignore that signal, but it does confound it if you're trying to be fair about things in a more holistic sense. I think of it in tech as being acutely similar to folks who complain about recruiters who care a lot about your side projects or OSS contributions. If you're rich and successful, you have more time for those sorts of things than someone who's less well off and taking care of their family or such outside of work. That doesn't mean that someone who maintains a major OSS project isn't likely a good engineer, but that you should understand that not everyone who is a good engineer can casually do a second job on the side.
    - 4y ago
faeriechangling 4y ago
Prejudice wouldn’t be such an issue if there weren’t a grain of truth in it. Pretty much any superficial indicator that you’ve lived a harder life than average can be used as a way to guess that you might be a worse employee due to some lingering baggage and a less privileged upbringing. The ugly just sadly don’t have affirmative action to compensate for this sort of thing.
- dumpHero2 4y ago
  I wasn't prepared for such harsh truth today.
  - rramadass 4y ago
    The Secret of Success is Sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made - Jean Giraudoux/George Burns (some versions replace Sincerity with Honesty). People who have been dealt a bad hand by Nature need to be aware of all sorts of cognitive biases (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases) and then find ways to bypass them to focus on their strengths.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
tubalcain 4y ago
The polish you speak of is not the relevant factor in determining attractiveness. Height, facial features and non-obesity are the characteristics described, and with the exception of obesity, are largely immutable. In other words, a professionally done photo of a goblin-like human will be viewed more negatively than a selfie of an attractive person.
- maxk42 4y ago
  And yet the study only considered the application of filters, which are pure "polish".

by maxk42 4y ago

vmception 4y ago

You can also get a feel for how well somebody can a see computer screen or at all based on the filter result they choose superimposed eye lashes that are a little misplaced extremely blurred skin far beyond removing blemishes lol

jjeaff 4y ago

You used the qualifier "especially for design centered roles". I would maybe amend that to "only for design centered roles and a few others". If I want to hire a hard core algorithm coder or a top level security specialist, I might not consider a neat and polished resume a negative signal, but I certainly wouldn't consider a less polished resume a negative signal. Because my experience with the type of people that are very good at those skills is that many couldn't care less about their profile photo or the font they use on their resume.

_Parfait_ 4y ago

"But if you're going to get indignant about people being hired based on looks then you'd better stop using sites more attractive than craigslist or products more attractive than crocs." Your first point raised about someone caring about their looks and the way their presented is a good one. But this last quote is strange.. If you're being hired for a non customer facing role do you really think this craigslist comparison is a fair one? I can get as gussied up as I can for a photo, but is it fair that the guy that looks more like Jake Gyllenhaal got hired even though I have a better skill set?

maxk42 4y ago
If that had happened, then no. But it didn't.
- dekelpilli 4y ago
  > In study 1, beautifying filters increased perceived hireability irrespective of job type But it does.
  - maxk42 4y ago
    And as I said: That isn't fair. But it also doesn't detract from my point that the people who put more effort into their applications are likely to also put more effort into their work. Once again: It's not a strong signal, but it's a signal.

Retric 4y ago

I found the opposite. People with simple utilitarian resumes tended to have more actual accomplishments, while people who focused on what their résumé looked like tended to have glaring issues they where trying to hide. Though I suspect this varies quite a bit by role.

antiterra 4y ago
Have worked at big SV companies where HR is forwarding the text paste of the resume with no corrected format. I would never tell someone not to make their resume look polished, but I have definitely seen people get lucrative jobs with a jumbled mess.

sjhuang26 4y ago

Perhaps the "polish" of the resume is a signal for "professionalism and attention to detail." But I worry that the professionalism of the resume is a signal mostly for wealth and social status, factors which should be ignored in the hiring process. So I think that unless the resume is atrociously formatted, its "polish" should be ignored. I read an article on LinkedIn [1] touching on a similar issue. The ideal resume quality standard is "not a lesson that every school or household teaches equally" and giving undue consideration to it may be "creating unnecessary barriers to entry for certain groups." However, I think your experience in the hiring process is valid and would be open to changing my mind. [1] https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/should-candidates-be-rejected-for-typos-or-resume-gaps https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisi...

dijonman2 4y ago
> But I worry that the professionalism of the resume is a signal mostly for wealth and social status What?
- noirbot 4y ago
  It's just generally easier to do more things well/professionally when you're well off and have the time to work on it or hire someone to do it. It's similar to the issues with standardized testing in schools. If your parents are wealthy and able to get you better test prep or tutoring, you'll do better on the test, and likely be actually more academically successful aside from it. It doesn't mean that one should totally ignore that signal, but it does confound it if you're trying to be fair about things in a more holistic sense. I think of it in tech as being acutely similar to folks who complain about recruiters who care a lot about your side projects or OSS contributions. If you're rich and successful, you have more time for those sorts of things than someone who's less well off and taking care of their family or such outside of work. That doesn't mean that someone who maintains a major OSS project isn't likely a good engineer, but that you should understand that not everyone who is a good engineer can casually do a second job on the side.
  - 4y ago

faeriechangling 4y ago

Prejudice wouldn’t be such an issue if there weren’t a grain of truth in it. Pretty much any superficial indicator that you’ve lived a harder life than average can be used as a way to guess that you might be a worse employee due to some lingering baggage and a less privileged upbringing. The ugly just sadly don’t have affirmative action to compensate for this sort of thing.

dumpHero2 4y ago
I wasn't prepared for such harsh truth today.
- rramadass 4y ago
  The Secret of Success is Sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made - Jean Giraudoux/George Burns (some versions replace Sincerity with Honesty). People who have been dealt a bad hand by Nature need to be aware of all sorts of cognitive biases (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases) and then find ways to bypass them to focus on their strengths.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

tubalcain 4y ago

The polish you speak of is not the relevant factor in determining attractiveness. Height, facial features and non-obesity are the characteristics described, and with the exception of obesity, are largely immutable. In other words, a professionally done photo of a goblin-like human will be viewed more negatively than a selfie of an attractive person.

maxk42 4y ago
And yet the study only considered the application of filters, which are pure "polish".