I think it is just natural for anyone to prefer a good looking person to a average looking person. Do we even need a study to prove it?

I don’t think that looks are the prime focus when some one is hired for a job. they do enhance your personality but not a sure ticket to the best job of your choice.

The best combination is obviously beauty with brains!

...and the ugly guys always end up with the best gals!

@ Aneez

The grass is always greener on the other side.

Good looks during job interviews matter. Employers would prefer workers who are presentable and have bearing. The outer appearance plus the brains are winning weapons to land on a good job.

The packaging and the carton have the chance to create the first impression. But it is the contents that will ultimately decide the matter, especially with experienced HR managers. It cannot be denied though, that external beauty is enhanced by internal abilities.

I firmly believe good looks can take you a long way if you are intelligent as well. We are all driven by an aesthetic need even if that sounds crude. If someone says he/she is gonna kiss someone who looks like a frog I really wouldn’t believe that. I’m just being honest.. Don’t mean to offend anyone.. If looks weren’t important, people wouldn’t have spent fortunes in fitness centres and for plastic surgeries... Even at an industrial setting, A person who looks better than average is bound to gain attention. But I don’t mean to say some handsome guy/Beautiful girl with no brains can reach the top. But their situation is better than a ugly guy/girl who has no brains either.

@ Ravinder

Very well said. In fact, in this case, the greenery is spread everywhere except ones own lawn. Maybe a case of diminishing marginal utility.

@Aneez :) very true !!!

So all you ordinary looking guys and gals start forming groups and agitating to be given quota under Ugly category. This is a serious problem. If looks can get you better jobs then the government should do something about the poor guys who are not good looking. Is there any chance that eugenics can be made legal in that case? We all can then go for designer babies.

"Is there any chance that eugenics can be made legal in that case? We all can then go for designer babies."

Why not. And we must. The government must subsidise fertility clinics who offer couples the opportunity to have designer babies through GM etc. Especially in a complexion-fixated country like ours it will be very much welcome.

Quota for ugly people? ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!! Yes because discrimination because of looks is far more prevalent and serious than one thinks. Also it will not give rise to any political tensions as we are seeing everyday because of reservations.

Not only South Asian countries are obsessed with skin complexion but looks do matter and it is a worldwide problem. Perhaps that is why we are inherently attracted to good looking people. It is inbuilt in our genes to constantly improve our looks and abilities.

Looks are important but it is not as the article suggests. People are discriminated on the basis of sex, colour, race, nationality and even looks. Now we cannot hope that the whole world turns into one race and every human on earth is good looking.

Of course the halo effect is compelling the interviewer psyche to choose good looking people these days. But I think even today looks matter for only the jobs for which they are of relevance, for example those involving public interaction(hospitality industry professionals for example). Otherwise even these days a meritorious individual (as evidenced by engineers, doctors, scientists etc.) doesn’t have to depend on his/her external appearance to land up with the best of jobs available. However in all cases a well-groomed personality not necessarily a good looking one can get one a great job.

Leena you have rightly said. Looks do boost your personality and to a certain extent does play on the mind or rather eyes of the interviewer. but then it depends how intelligently sensible is the interviewer who can look thru the beauty and appreciate brains too. Summing it up, i feel its the smartness that rules over beauty!

Good looks almost inevitably get equated with personal success and personal happiness...

Nobody wants to hire a person who is unhappy or unstable in his personal life...