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Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

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Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#71

Post by userbinator »

irrational wrote: post #70
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As others have pointed out, even without photos on resumes, often times the first thing I do when looking at a candidate is go to their LinkedIn profile, which of course do feature headshots.

Will you not hire them if they don’t have a LinkedIn profile (or any other social media accounts)?

I suspect that employers who are more secretive themselves may find the lack of social media or other nonymous online presence as a good indication that the person in question is unlikely to be someone who could publicly share internal information accidentally.

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#73

Post by rajin444 »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #56
dwater wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally, European colonizers imported their anti-dark skin biases (colourism) to their African colonies and they persist to this day among the black populations. https://www.e-ir.info/2020/04/11/critical-reflections-on-eth...

> and they persist to this day among the black populations. Well, light skin preference for females persists to this day in African populations and every other population. It was also present -- and documented even in Africa -- before any European presence existed, so it's strange to say that Europeans imported it. And darker skin is usually preferred for men.

I'm not sure how to account for darker skin _may_ be less attractive to humans on a genetic level. It's a question science can't answer, so I don't know how we could control for it. i.e, it could be the truth that the lighter your skin is the more attractive you are. How do we rule that out?

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#74

Post by throwawayboise »

rybosome wrote: post #54
altdataseller wrote: post #4

Does being attractive really help you in getting hired in engineering positions? I would understand client-facing/sales jobs, but unsure it would help in engineering roles

Being attractive helps you in everything. Humans have a fundamental positive bias towards those they perceive as attractive. At the risk of sounding arrogant, let me share my personal experience. Over a period of a year in my early thirties, I became more conventionally attractive by: purchasing clothes from StitchFix (a styling service), getting my hair cut regularly by a stylist, adopting a regular grooming routine…

Absolutely nothing wrong with taking advantage of improved grooming, hygiene, physical fitness, and clothing. These are easy things that anyone can do to gain advantages in most areas of life.

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#75

Post by floren »

Izkata wrote: post #59
oh_sigh wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it is a bad question to ask. In fact, there might even be negative biases against attractiveness for engineers. Will a dude with cheeto dust on his star wars t-shirt give a fair shake to a good looking woman who is wearing business attire and makeup, compared to another dude in a t-shirt? Let's do a test. Who would you imagine is the better engineer of these two old timey people? https://i.imgur.com/omR…

IMO the second one doesn't look old-timey, just stylish.

He chose that one because it's Hedy Lamarr, movie star and electrical engineer

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#76

Post by [deleted] »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #56
dwater wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally, European colonizers imported their anti-dark skin biases (colourism) to their African colonies and they persist to this day among the black populations. https://www.e-ir.info/2020/04/11/critical-reflections-on-eth...

> and they persist to this day among the black populations. Well, light skin preference for females persists to this day in African populations and every other population. It was also present -- and documented even in Africa -- before any European presence existed, so it's strange to say that Europeans imported it. And darker skin is usually preferred for men.

[deleted]

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#77

Post by dekelpilli »

maxk42 wrote: post #49
_Parfait_ wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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 compar…

If that had happened, then no. But it didn't.

> In study 1, beautifying filters increased perceived hireability irrespective of job type

But it does.

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#78

Post by Spooky23 »

irrational wrote: post #68
dzhiurgis wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With or without, tons of companies will do "due diligence" and will look for your FB and Insta feeds, just in case you are drunk or drugged or whatever might seem inappropriate. Kinda creepy to go such lengths, but also some companies don't want people not smart enough to not post their shenanigans publicly.

Will they not hire you if you don’t have social media accounts? I could see them thinking that you are lying and trying to hide something.

Usually information can be used against you, but the absence does not.

Re: Hacking attractiveness biases in hiring? The role of beautifying photo-filters

#80

Post by WalterBright »

RachelF wrote: post #66
daenz wrote: post #13

>Both male and female applicants whose photos were filtered were perceived as more competent A tale as old as time. Politicians who are attractive have a huge perception advantage. And political campaigns that use actors (who are almost by definition attractive) appeal to these same competence biases.

Height as well. We instinctively think tall people make better leaders.

Tall people tend to be more relaxed in leadership roles, because they feel less of a need to prove themselves.
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