Two-thirds of education professionals believe the way you look affects your career prospects

Brains over beauty? Education professionals don’t think so…

New research from CV-Library has found that over two-thirds (69.2%) of education professionals think the way you look affects your career prospects, with 83.1% believing that employers discriminate individuals based on their appearance.

The study, which surveyed 1,040 UK workers around the topic of physical appearance and career prospects, found that a staggering 73.3% of professionals in the education industry believe that the way you look can affect your chances of landing a job. Other areas include:

• Nearly two-thirds (60%) think it affects the way your co-workers see you
• With (55.6%) believing it can impact people’s confidence
• AND, 35.6% feel it can impact your chance of securing a promotion

In addition to this, education professionals state that your appearance could affect how much your  boss likes you (28.9%), your negotiating power (26.7%) and your salary (24.4%). On a positive note, 69.2% of education professionals said that they still wouldn’t alter their appearance to land a job.

Lee Biggins, founder and managing director of CV-Library, comments:

“With continued focus on discrimination in the workplace, our findings could be cause for concern for UK businesses. No one should ever be made to feel that they can’t advance in their career because of their physical appearance and this is an issue that needs to be addressed.”

When asked what they think can be done to combat this issue, four in 10 (40.4%) education professionals said that more than one recruiter should be involved in the hiring process, while 25% suggested blind hiring would be beneficial. A further 23.1% believe that telephone interviews should take place initially, while 11.5% said employers shouldn’t be allowed to ‘Google’ potential employees.

Biggins continues: “The recruitment industry is working hard to remove unconscious bias from the hiring process, through the implementation of new recruitment technologies. Organisations should make a conscious effort to hire individuals that are the best fit for the job and eliminate discrimination entirely.

“But if you do feel like you’ve been discriminated against for your appearance in an interview or at work, you must report it.”