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

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201–210 of 279 posts

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

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of data out there showing that attractiveness, fitness (as in, not obese), and tallness are all massive biases in the workplace -- much bigger in many studies than biases around gender and ethnicity even. I don't know why these forms of identity are almost entirely ignored, while we obsess over others. Imagine if tech companies published the height, weight, and facial symmetry of their workforces, like…

Putting physical fitness in the same bucket as height, gender, and race is a category error. Whether someone is fit or obese tells you a lot about their lifestyle and daily choices. You cannot change your facial structure or tallness (yet), but fitness is definitely a signal for discipline and mental strength.

...but fitness is definitely a signal for discipline and mental strength

No, it doesn't. Not being fit merely tells you that they might have lifestyle choices different from your own.

Or they might be female with PCOS. Or they might have a disease that causes fatigue or pain when they exercise. Heck, that might be the very reason for their desk job. Or a history of food insecurity and really need the insurance the job provides to be able to afford therapy, if they are even to that point. Heck, they might just not be knowledgeable enough to separate bad health advice from good health advice and despite trying things out, feel stuck. It isn't like I learned how to care for my body in school, after all. Health class focused on STDs and parts of the body while physical education classes were more focused on sports, rules, and being a good teammate.

The reality is that being overweight only tells you that they are overweight.

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

#202

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…

I am not attractive and it's not something clothes or styling can fix BUT I can confirm how perceptions make a massive difference. About 20 years ago I started wearing ties and dress up, not just for work. If you never done this, try it out, get some normal (or as they call them now, "classic" fit) trousers, jacket, shirt, tie and marvel at how everyone treats you better. It's the kind of thing you only notice if it happens to you suddenly.

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

#203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of data out there showing that attractiveness, fitness (as in, not obese), and tallness are all massive biases in the workplace -- much bigger in many studies than biases around gender and ethnicity even. I don't know why these forms of identity are almost entirely ignored, while we obsess over others. Imagine if tech companies published the height, weight, and facial symmetry of their workforces, like…

Putting physical fitness in the same bucket as height, gender, and race is a category error. Whether someone is fit or obese tells you a lot about their lifestyle and daily choices. You cannot change your facial structure or tallness (yet), but fitness is definitely a signal for discipline and mental strength.

Agreed.

I'd recommend keeping fitness a top priority especially as one gets older. Not only does everything get easier when not overweight, but the energy boost and appearance improvements certainly helps your confidence and presentation in every possible way.

I'm not someone you'd consider a "pretty" man even by a long shot, but being fit with a healthy BMI makes a world of difference nonetheless.

(I took serious stock some time not too long ago and realised weight lifting and being strong wasn't enough when actually overweight. Have dropped 15% of my body weight through dieting and the difference is amazing. I'm closer to fifty).

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

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it is very common to go search out someone's LinkedIn, which does have a profile picture.

> LinkedIn, which does have a profile picture Maybe yours does, but plenty don't.

No post body was provided.

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

#205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of data out there showing that attractiveness, fitness (as in, not obese), and tallness are all massive biases in the workplace -- much bigger in many studies than biases around gender and ethnicity even. I don't know why these forms of identity are almost entirely ignored, while we obsess over others. Imagine if tech companies published the height, weight, and facial symmetry of their workforces, like…

I've always been amazed at the hypocrisy of all of this. A portion of attractiveness is culture-invariant, and quantifiable based on measurable factors such as facial symmetry. Study after study have demonstrated that humans innately treat attractive individuals better than others. Yet we obsess over skin colour and genitalia, without a single peep about the physical appearance discrimination that most humans take pa…

This has been the same for all culturally accepted biases. Theyre all completely ok until theyre suddenly not and then a maelstrom of controversy accompanies its transition from ok to unacceptable.

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

#206

When I was in England for a short time I was tasked with screening candidates for employment (software engineers). As an American, I was taken aback by most of the resumes including photos. That's just not done here in the US. Some American HR departments might even send back your resume and ask you to resubmit it without a photo. It seems to be standard practice in Europe, perhaps to convince you that the person int…

"It seems to be standard practice in Europe"

I'm in my 50s in the UK and I've never had anyone ask for a photo during recruitment and I've also done a lot of hiring for multiple companies and they certainly didn't ask for photos.

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

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Putting physical fitness in the same bucket as height, gender, and race is a category error. Whether someone is fit or obese tells you a lot about their lifestyle and daily choices. You cannot change your facial structure or tallness (yet), but fitness is definitely a signal for discipline and mental strength.

Agreed. I'd recommend keeping fitness a top priority especially as one gets older. Not only does everything get easier when not overweight, but the energy boost and appearance improvements certainly helps your confidence and presentation in every possible way. I'm not someone you'd consider a "pretty" man even by a long shot, but being fit with a healthy BMI makes a world of difference nonetheless. (I took serious st…

I don't believe attractiveness defines a persons value, I just know it changes how people behave around you, so you will probably see results if you can put some effort into being fit and put together. As you said, not everyone gets to be 'handsome' or 'pretty', but you can get a head way above the pack with fitness alone.

I've always had a hard time articulating my advice on this matter, because it's easy to be shallow, and it's insensitive because not everyone can act on it. But for those who can, it's more about being pragmatic.

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

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two reasons: Short people have not faced anywhere near the scale of injustices as Black people in America historically have, so there is not much of a cultural desire to right the wrongs done to short people or people with slightly lower facial symmetry. Secondly, all those characteristics are subjective, and are continuous measurements, not discrete properties. How do you define short or unattractive?

How is race a discrete, and not a continuous, property? It seems quite obviously continuous too.

>How is race a discrete, and not a continuous, property?

The "one drop of blood" school of thought.[1]

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

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

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of data out there showing that attractiveness, fitness (as in, not obese), and tallness are all massive biases in the workplace -- much bigger in many studies than biases around gender and ethnicity even. I don't know why these forms of identity are almost entirely ignored, while we obsess over others. Imagine if tech companies published the height, weight, and facial symmetry of their workforces, like…

Putting physical fitness in the same bucket as height, gender, and race is a category error. Whether someone is fit or obese tells you a lot about their lifestyle and daily choices. You cannot change your facial structure or tallness (yet), but fitness is definitely a signal for discipline and mental strength.

I suppose it could also be a evolutionary signal. People have gotten taller over the centuries as nutrition has improved. So a tall, healthy looking person could be attractive evolutionary speaking.

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

#210

When I was in England for a short time I was tasked with screening candidates for employment (software engineers). As an American, I was taken aback by most of the resumes including photos. That's just not done here in the US. Some American HR departments might even send back your resume and ask you to resubmit it without a photo. It seems to be standard practice in Europe, perhaps to convince you that the person int…

with linkedin being so common these days, does it really matter if the photo is on the actual resume?
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