Sorry, David Beckham. Being Too Much of THIS Can Hurt a Man’s Career
We’ve all heard of the glass ceiling (though plenty of #girlbosses haven’t let that stop us), but have you heard of the mirrored door? Okay, probably not, because we literally just made that up, but it’s an interesting phenomenon in job hiring that is only recently getting studied by researchers — and it only affects men. It’s when being really, really ridiculously good-looking (hey there, Zoolander) can actually hurt one’s chances of getting a job.
It’s a good thing that David Beckham’s talent on the soccer — pardon us, football pitch — spoke for itself.
According to the Daily Mail, the study was a collaboration between University College London’s School of Management and the University of Maryland, and involved four separate experiments in different offices. They found that when a good-looking man was up for a role, their chances were negatively affected if the hiring manager was also a man. The cause behind this finding was that attractive men were seen as a threat to their potential bosses.
According to lead researcher Sun Young Lee of Maryland University, the reason this often happens is because “managers are affected by stereotypes and make hiring decisions to serve their own self-interests so organizations may not get the most competent candidates.” That’s why employing a third-party recruitment agency might get a company the best candidates.
Interestingly enough, however, the attractiveness of a woman didn’t get in the way of her being hired.
What do you think about this study? Tweet us @BritandCo!
(h/t Details, photos via Anthony Harvey/Getty)
