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The ugly truth is that it pays to be
tall and handsome
Desperate economic times tend to call
for desperate measures. But can increasing your height or covering up your
wrinkles actually help secure a new job or boost your salary?
Companies certainly make that claim. An online retailer, WalkTallShoes.com, says
about 90 per cent of chief executives are of above average height, and the
business has plenty of "height-increasing shoes" for aspiring executives who
want to be elevated by up to 2.75 inches (7cm).
During the recent recession, one spa in the US started offering free Botox
injections to the unemployed in a bid to help them look younger and find work.
It may sound like an extreme stunt, but one survey during the downturn found
that 80 per cent of plastic surgeons in the US said the reason patients were
going under the knife was to gain an edge in the workplace.
The question remains, however, whether any of these tactics really help in this
competitive job market.
It turns out that increasing numbers of economic as well as social and
behavioural science researchers are trying to determine what makes a difference
when it comes to someone's job prospects and salary potential. In some cases,
experts have even tried to quantify exactly how much more pay certain
characteristics may yield.
Let's start with those shoes. The Journal of Applied Psychology published
research from four large-scale studies in the US and UK in which thousands of
individuals were observed from childhood to adulthood, with researchers looking
at details of their work and personal lives.
The research homed in on height as a key difference among the people being
studied. After controlling for factors such as gender, weight and age,
researchers from the University of Florida and the University of North Carolina
calculated a monetary value for each extra inch of height.
The magic number: US$789 (Dh2,897) per inch per year. In other words, they
argue, a colleague who is 7 inches taller than you can expect to earn about
$5,520 more per year.
Now for the fine print. Being taller simply is not enough to garner a higher
salary. After all, there are many tall people who aren't any good at their jobs.
But what those extra inches may provide, researchers say, is a boost in
confidence that helps people to be more successful.
Other research has found that what you wear also makes a tangible difference
when it comes to money matters.
A recent study slated to be published in the journal Evolution and Human
Behavior has found that outward displays of luxury through designer labels on
clothes elicit greater preferential treatment.
Participants in one experiment viewed one of two videos of a man being
interviewed for a job, where the only difference was whether he was wearing a
shirt with a designer logo or not. Those who saw the version where his shirt had
the logo rated him more suitable for the position - and even recommended that he
earn a salary that was 9 per cent higher than what they recommended when his
shirt had no logo.
As superficial as these studies make us all seem, the indications from the
research only get worse.
Not only do the underdressed and vertically challenged have to worry about being
shortchanged, but so do the ugly or, rather, those who look less "competent
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