Screening job applicants: The impact of physical attractiveness and application quality

The present study investigated the impact of physical attractiveness and re sume quality on the evaluation of job applicants in the screening phase of the selection process. One hundred and eighty participants were asked to im agine they were a recruiting officer and to screen an application for the p osition of graduate trainee manager. Participants read a job advertisement and one of two versions of a curriculum vitae, which differed in quality. A ttached to the front page of each curriculum vitae was a passport-sized hea d-and-shoulders photograph of either an average or an attractive female. A control condition with no attached photograph was also included. Participan ts judged the likelihood with which they would offer an interview to the ap plicant, the quality of the application, and the likely starting salary the y would offer the applicant. Results indicated that attractiveness had no i mpact when the quality of the application was high but that attractiveness was an advantage when the application was mediocre. When the resume quality was average the attractive applicant was evaluated more positively than th e control, no photograph, applicant; an attractive photograph boosted the e valuation of a mediocre application. Results are discussed in terms of disc rimination and implications for the field of human resource management.