YOU鈥橵E rewritten your cover letter 20 times, Googled your interviewers and spent 2 hours polishing your shoes. Who could blame you for thinking you鈥檝e given yourself a decent shot at landing a job? Unfortunately, there鈥檚 more to it than that. Your chances could be dashed by anything from the timbre of your voice to the colour of your outfit.
We are all prone to unconscious biases 鈥� the unfounded judgements that people make without even being aware they are doing so. When it comes to the job market, this makes for a formidable challenge. If you鈥檙e a handsome man and can afford a bespoke suit, for example, you may have an edge over the competition in an interview. But attractive women who wear skirts just above the knee could be at a disadvantage.
Yes, it鈥檚 arbitrary and unfair. But don鈥檛 worry, social psychology is here to help. You don鈥檛 need to be rich, beautiful or lucky to overcome the application odds. You just need a bit of science on your side.
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What鈥檚 in a name?
In an ideal world, your name 鈥� the first thing a potential employer learns about you 鈥� would have no effect on your chances of being hired.
In the real world, however, it isn鈥檛 easy for people to shed the assumptions that come with a moniker. Just ask Christophe Rocancourt, a French man who by adopting the name of the Rockefeller banking dynasty. With a name like that, many people didn鈥檛 bother to ask too many questions.
Name bias in the job market can present a problem, especially for women and people in minority groups. In a well-known study published in 2012, Jo Handelsman and her colleagues at Yale University found that . The faculty members assumed John would be more competent, even though on paper he was no more qualified than Jennifer was. He was also offered a higher starting salary and better mentoring opportunities.
People from ethnic minorities face similar hurdles. A 2011 study of German employers, for example, found that . In a similar study in Sweden, researchers found that .
It鈥檚 unsettling stuff, to be sure. But there are ways to tip the scales in your favour. The team behind the German study found that applicants could wipe out discrimination against them by including positive reference letters. It also seems that discrimination is less likely in highly skilled occupations, competitive labour markets and larger firms, which is good news for science graduates.
Some companies are taking action against these unconscious biases. In May, . Anyone who applies for one of these roles will have their name, age, gender and address removed from their application before it is considered.
The bank hasn鈥檛 yet had a role to fill at that level, but recruiters feel confident that when the time comes, the policy will help the organisation reach gender equality. 鈥淎ll you are really trying to do is take as much of the unconscious bias out of the process as you can,鈥� says Ian Doyle, general manager of human resources for the Bank of Queensland.
The bank isn鈥檛 alone in implementing fair recruitment policies to diversify its workforce. To find out which firms are doing well each year, turn to , or , many of which are multinationals.
If you want to find out whether or not a company cares about diversity, take a look at its website, says Sandra Kerr, director of charity . Look out for images of people from a range of ethnic backgrounds, and an explicit statement that the company encourages diversity. 鈥淭hat will give you an idea of their level of consciousness of this issue,鈥� says Kerr.
You may be able to gain a slight advantage by tinkering with the way you write your name. , say psychologists at the University of Southampton and at the University of Limerick in Ireland. That鈥檚 because we tend to associate names written with middle initials with formal contexts in intellectual domains, such as on legal documents or medical notes. 鈥淧eople see the middle initials and infer that the person must have high social status in this particular domain, and therefore that the quality of the product must be particularly good,鈥� says Tilburg.
鈥淧eople who include their middle initials on applications are perceived as smarter鈥�
The effect only seems to work with intellectual jobs, and doesn鈥檛 work for athletes, for example. It can also backfire for those without many qualifications to their name. 鈥淥ne of the possibilities is that people are perceived to be pretentious,鈥� says Tilburg.
An attractive offer
Let鈥檚 say your application has overcome the employer鈥檚 unconscious biases and you have secured an interview. Now is your chance to be judged on your skills, experience and personality, right? Sadly not. People tend to make pretty much instantaneous judgements about people based solely on their looks.
We have all thought that life seems easier for the beautiful among us. The phenomenon is partly down to what鈥檚 known as the 鈥渨hat is beautiful is good鈥� stereotype. As a result, we project all sorts of wonderful traits on to pretty people, blinded to the fact that they may be no better than anyone else.
But those of us not blessed with supermodel looks can consider this little slice of scientific schadenfreude: being too attractive can work against job applicants.
Earlier this year, Ze鈥檈v Shtudiner of Ariel University in Israel and Bradley Ruffle of Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, sent out 5312 fictional CVs in pairs to 2656 real job openings, across 10 fields including finance, engineering, computer programming and sales. One of each pair of identical CVs had a photograph of either an attractive or plain male or female applicant, while the other had no photograph.
The team鈥檚 fictional handsome men received 50 per cent more callbacks than men who didn鈥檛 include a picture, and twice as many as plain-looking male applicants. 鈥淭hey have a beauty premium,鈥� says Shtudiner. Not so for women. .
鈥淗andsome men receive 50 per cent more callbacks, but attractive women do not鈥�
Shtudiner thinks that recruiting teams at company human resources departments, which are largely female, may be jealous of attractive women. Unless you happen to be a particularly attractive man, it might be best to avoid attaching a photograph to your application.
But it鈥檚 not just your looks that sway an interviewer. When of Washington State University and his colleagues asked fellow faculty members and professionals in the hospitality industry to rank photographs of job applicants, the team found that . It鈥檚 worth putting the effort in 鈥� your devastating good looks won鈥檛 make up for your wrinkled shirt.
Getting your clothing right doesn鈥檛 just mean pulling out the ironing board, however. A 5-second glance at a photograph is enough for people to judge a man鈥檚 personality based on the quality of his suit. , says , who investigated the phenomenon with his colleagues at the University of Hertfordshire. Those who can鈥檛 afford tailored suits should at least ensure theirs fits them.
In a separate study, submitted for publication, Fletcher鈥檚 team found that women being assessed by other women for management positions were regarded as less employable and confident if they wore a skirt slightly above the knee and unbuttoned an extra button on their blouses, even if the suit was very conservative. 鈥淚鈥檓 afraid that the people selecting you are biased 鈥� they are being misled by things that they should not reasonably be misled by,鈥� Fletcher says.
What else goes on the blacklist? Try visible tattoos, piercings and the colour red. Wearing a red tie to an interview has been shown to , while several studies have shown that tattoos and body piercings are generally frowned upon. There is even .
Employers really should do better. The good news is that an increasing number of companies are offering training programmes in diversity and unconscious bias. In the meantime you might want to try looking the part. You can always let your hair down once you鈥檝e got the job.
Have them at hello
In the time it takes you to say 鈥渉ello鈥�, the person you鈥檝e greeted will have already decided what kind of person you are. As unfair as it sounds, it takes less than a second for someone to assess how trustworthy, competent, likeable and attractive you are based on your voice alone. That鈥檚 according to by Philip McAleer and his colleagues at the University of Glasgow.
Generally, lower-pitched voices are judged as belonging to people suitable for leadership roles. But women who deepen their voices can face penalties. The common practice of 鈥渧ocal fry鈥�, which involves dropping your voice to a gravelly pitch 鈥� think Zooey Deschanel 鈥� isn鈥檛 received well by either sex.
at Duke University in North Carolina and her colleagues recorded seven men and seven women aged between 19 and 30 saying a phrase with and without vocal fry, which was then listened to and rated by 800 people. The team found that the .
鈥淵ou鈥檙e not doing yourself any favours by using vocal fry,鈥� Anderson says. 鈥淲hether you鈥檙e asking about attractiveness, education, competence, trustworthiness or hireability, vocal fry is perceived negatively relative to the normal voice.鈥�
Women who used vocal fry were judged more harshly than men who used it. 鈥淲e like voice qualities that are middle of the road and sex typical,鈥� says Anderson. If you鈥檙e going to lower your voice, don鈥檛 take it too far.
A winning handshake
Whether it鈥檚 firm, cautious, limp or sweaty, a handshake can make a powerful first impression.
As you might expect, strong handshakes tend to be given by expressive extroverts, while shy people are more likely to offer a limp grasp. That鈥檚 what William Chapman and his colleagues at the University of Alabama found when they .
That might explain why employers prefer the firm shake. Greg Stewart鈥檚 team at the University of Iowa found that .
It pays to go in for a strong shake, says Stewart, especially for women, who can gain a significant advantage from it in an interview situation. A firm handshake provides an easy way to exhibit confidence and stand out from the pack, he says.
Time it right
If a potential employer asks you when you can come in for an interview, it might be best to schedule it for the start of the working day, or just after lunch. That鈥檚 when people tend to be in better moods and make more favourable judgements. This has been known to influence parole requests 鈥� judges grant 65 per cent of the requests they hear just after their morning and lunchtime breaks. As the day wears on, and judges get increasingly hungry and tired, .
There鈥檚 another reason to opt for an interview early in the day. People, including recruiters, tend to use 鈥渘arrow bracketing鈥� when making decisions 鈥� when faced with multiple decisions, we tend to deal with each in a smaller subset, without paying attention to the bigger picture. As a result, recruiters tend to rate candidates by comparing them with the other candidates they see over the course of a day, rather than over the weeks they spend interviewing all candidates.
Uri Simonsohn of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School explored the phenomenon by analysing 10 years鈥� worth of applications to MBA courses at US business schools. The pair found that, later in the day, 鈥� 鈥� if they have already seen strong candidates, they are less likely to rate the remaining interviewees favourably. If you鈥檙e up against stiff competition, consider a morning interview.
However, an afternoon slot might benefit you if you feel confident in your abilities. 鈥淚f in the morning they saw weak candidates, they give stronger evaluations in the afternoon,鈥� says Simonsohn.
Power up
Overcoming an employer鈥檚 subconscious biases will always be a challenge, but you can boost your chances by priming your own subconscious.
You could, for example, try some power posing. Try standing with your hands on your hips, your chest out and your legs wide apart for 2 minutes. How do you feel?
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy found that job candidates who adopted this pose before a mock interview were rated by judges as being .
People who adopt other types of power poses 鈥� such as leaning back in an office chair, feet on the table, with their hands behind their head 鈥� experience and a drop in levels of the stress hormone cortisol. That might explain why power poses help us feel powerful and more willing to take risks, says Cuddy.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪imply irresistible鈥�