It seems that Gunner was right

Red Rose

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with his assessment that hair loss affects your employability.

http://www.stlouisfed.org/publications/ ... ances.html

The article does not outline per se that hair loss is a contributing factor but I think the assumption is valid given that hair loss depreciates your looks.

Beauty

A study by economists Daniel Hamermesh and Jeff Biddle uses survey data to examine the impact that appearance has on a person’s earnings. In each survey, the interviewer who asked the questions also rated the respondents’ physical appearance. Respondents were classified into one of the following groups: below average, average and above average.

Hamermesh and Biddle found that the “plainness penalty†is 9 percent and that the “beauty premium†is 5 percent after controlling for other variables, such as education and experience. In other words, a person with below-average looks tended to earn 9 percent less per hour, and an above-average person tended to earn 5 percent more per hour than an average-looking person. For the median male in 1996 working full-time, the respective penalty and premium amounted to approximately $2,600 and $1,400 annually. The corresponding penalty and premium for the median female worker are $2,000 and $1,100.1

One might think that for certain professions, appearance is more important. Indeed, occupations that require more interpersonal contact have higher percentages of above-average-looking employees. However, Hamermesh and Biddle showed that the plainness penalty and the beauty premium exist across all occupations.

In a separate paper, Biddle and Hamermesh investigated the influence of beauty on the wages of lawyers, using data collected from the same law school for graduating classes of 1971-78 and 1981-88. The school has photographs of each entering class, which form the basis of the study. A different panel of four observers—including one person younger than 35 and one at least 35 years old from each gender—rated the students in each class on a scale of 1 to 5, where a “5†represents the most attractive. Biddle and Hamermesh took the average of the four ratings to get an individual’s overall rating. To correct for differences among panelists, the ratings for each class were standardized.

They found evidence of a beauty premium for attorneys that increases with age, at least for the 1971-78 classes.2 Five years after graduating, a male lawyer from these classes with a beauty rating of one rank above average had approximately 10 percent higher earnings than his counterpart with a rating of one rank below average. Fifteen years after graduation, the beauty premium increased to 12 percent. The beauty premium was smaller for the 1980s classes and might be attributed to tighter labor market conditions at the time of graduation.

Differences in the beauty premium were found also between lawyers in the private sector and those in the public sector. Fifteen years after graduating, the beauty premium for private lawyers was three times that for public lawyers.


The paper also comments on weight and height within this context.
 

global

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I didnt need a study to tell me that.

Better looks/better accent/better social class = more money
 

socks

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Funny thing is, most CEO that I see are usually fat and/or balding and/or short and/or ugly white men.

How many tall, handsome, GQ guys do you see on the Forbes 500 list? Yeah, there may be some but when I look at some of the richest men in the world it usually makes me think, "Yeah they are bastards for having all that money but if I looked like that I would need that money to just to get through the day".

If you look towards the end of the study it says:

"Certain characteristics, such as appearance, might affect productivity in ways that are not as easily measured (or as obvious) as are other characteristics, like education or experience. Appearance, for example, can affect confidence and communication, thereby influencing productivity..."


Now, how many guys here who like to claim hairloss ruined their life obviously suffer from HUGE confidence deficits?

I'm not saying beauty doesnt have any impact when it comes to careers, however unless you're career is being a model you can still be successful so long as you're focused, ambitious, intelligent, and confident with good communication skills...
 

Red Rose

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socks said:
If you look towards the end of the study it says:

"Certain characteristics, such as appearance, might affect productivity in ways that are not as easily measured (or as obvious) as are other characteristics, like education or experience. Appearance, for example, can affect confidence and communication, thereby influencing productivity..."

Now, how many guys here who like to claim hairloss ruined their life obviously suffer from HUGE confidence deficits?

Yes good point.
 
G

Guest

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If others are slow to realise, then that's not my fault.

I have been there. Pre-hair loss my success rate was a far cry from me attending interviews post-hair loss.

I know what is required to get a job.

No one will ever convince me otherwise.
 

socks

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What some people fail to understand is that most people who hire someone as an employee is looking mostly at their qualifications and personality.

Appearance can come into play if someone is horribly ugly or has an inappropriate "look" to them (IE died purple hair and a nose ring). However, to think one has to be "good looking" to get a job is absurd. If most people were good looking it wouldnt be good looking! It would be AVERAGE LOOKING.


I am trying to start up my own business myself and I can guarantee everyone here the last thing I'll care about is how person "X" looks! However, if they come in with an attitude and/or have a real "downer" kind of personality I probably wont hire them.
 
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