Forget everything you’ve heard about beauty being only skin deep. Two recent Newsweek polls reveal that beauty may be pocket and career deep as well. Both surveys suggest dressing to impress today simply isn’t enough. Many managers evaluate the physical attractiveness of job candidates too.

The surveys reveal the following 8 ugly truths about beauty in the workplace:

1.  Looks Matter at Work

Fifty-seven percent of the managers polled feel an unattractive (but qualified) applicant will experience more difficulty getting hired.  Sixty-eight percent believe that once hired, looks continue to affect how managers evaluate an employee’s job performance.

2.  Aesthetics Trump Education

When asked to rate nine character attributes, looks rated third below experience and confidence, but above where a candidate went to school and a sense of humor. With that said, it’s probably a good ideal to leave for last, or not include at all, that line in your Facebook bio about having a great sense of humor.

3.  Resume Surgery or Cosmetic Surgery?

Fifty-nine percent of hiring managers recommend investing as much time and money doctoring your looks as you do doctoring your resume.

4.  Caution Women – Being too Hot can Leave you Cold

Don’t believe that? Ask Debrahlee Lorenzana, the Queens woman who filed suit last month against Citibank, alleging the corporation fired her because she was “too hot.” Regardless of the veracity of the allegations, many professional women know all too well the importance of mastering the ability of looking attractive without being attracting. Sixty-one percent of the hiring managers Newsweek surveyed – 60 percent of whom were men – responded they feel it is beneficial for a woman to display her figure at work.  Meanwhile, 47 percent of those same managers said they feel some women are at a disadvantage for being too attractive in the office. A winning case of “Damn if you do; damn if you don’t.”

5.  Fat or Skinny, We Hate Hiring Fat People

Sure 75 percent of the American population is overweight – according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control – but that doesn’t stop us from discriminating against overweight people at work and in life. Newsweek reports “[2/3] of business managers said they believe some managers would hesitate before hiring a qualified job candidate who was significantly overweight”.

6.  We Don’t Like Old People Either

Eighty-four percent of managers believe some bosses avoid hiring a qualified job applicant who looked much older than his or her cohorts.

7.  In Certain Situations, ‘Lookism’ is OK

Sixty-four percent of hiring managers said they believe when a job calls for an employee to be the “face” of a company, hiring people based on looks is acceptable. But there was an inconsistency here. 60 percent of those same respondents said they would favor a law making it illegal to discriminate in hiring based on looks. When researched further, 46 percent of the public said they would favor a law making hiring discrimination based on appearance illegal.

8.  Don’t Say FML Yet – Confidence is Imperative, Too!

You will recall that both confidence and experience ranked first and second on the list of the most important employee attributes. That said, lots of opportunities exists for the regular folks.

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