Article

2010-12-07 -Short Attention Span Theater-

Attractive women held back in hiring process

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Posted by Fred 2010-12-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11125 views ] Top

#1 "Plain" women are far more likely to get a job interview than "attractive" ones, Prof. Bradley Ruffle of Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found.

Well, this is easy. Da plain dames work for da boss, but guess who is spendin all da boss's dough back at the house? Da trophy wife!

Posted by Angolutch Gonque9293 2010-12-07 00:48|| 2010-12-07 00:48|| Front Page Top

#2 Angolutch, I think you have it a bit too stereotypical.

I've been in consulting since early 90's, e.g. on my own. But in mid-80's, I run a small biz that had a few employees. My primary criterion in hiring was: "Can he/she do the work?"
I admit a bias against "bimbos", unless she was to be in reception as a company front, which I did not need, being into lean and mean paradigm. Also, being married--though my wife was well endowed and quite a specimen, I married her long before having a small biz, so I don't think the "trophy wife" was applicable--and knowing what kind of effects the pheromones and curves have on my makeup as a carbon based unit of male type, I simply were trying not to set myself into a temptation trap. Anyway, my opinion was that it is better to pay occasionally $100 to sexual industry professional if a need arises than to hire a bimbot for $1600/month, with uncertain results.

So, plain Janes were preferable. Less chances that they would gossip their work day away and would do what they are paid to do, e.g. to work.

I had no bias as males were concerned, I did not have any concept of male attractiveness, so that was really simple. Ultimately, whoever seemed to have the necessary qualifications and was best of the interviewed, in my opinion, got the job. Male of female.

A perspective of a female boss may differ in some aspects, I suppose some form of rivalry based on a perceived SMV (sexual market value) is always present, though not always consciously.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 03:06|| 2010-12-07 03:06|| Front Page Top

#3 Errata: Male or female.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 03:08|| 2010-12-07 03:08|| Front Page Top

#4 More importantly, what would the counterpart female carbon-based of female type be thinking if you stayed to work late. Or went in early. Or inhabited the same office space as the carbon-based bimbo unit at any time between the hours of early and late.

Not good.

Posted by gorb 2010-12-07 03:13|| 2010-12-07 03:13|| Front Page Top

#5 Gorb, It is not so straightforward. In fact, if what my carbon-based counterpart of female type (a.k.a spousal unit) was thinking was the primary criterion, I would hire the bimbot away. That would invite certain type of dynamics, no doubt, but would have positive effects on my marital relationship that went into a limbo in early 90's.

Seems counter-intuitive, but trust me on this.

Alas, it was not my criterion. I were not forward thinking, the daily affairs of running biz consumed enough energy to have a left-over for "what if" scenarios in marital sphere.

Were I transported in time back then with what I know today, I would do a lot of things differently.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 03:27|| 2010-12-07 03:27|| Front Page Top

#6 Youth tends to be wasted on the young.

Posted by gorb 2010-12-07 03:49|| 2010-12-07 03:49|| Front Page Top

#7 Blondes might have more fun, but unattractive women make it in the boardroom, according to a new study.

Some find what they were looking for in the mail room or at a cocktail party. Just ask Val Plame.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 07:02|| 2010-12-07 07:02|| Front Page Top

#8 Trying to extract any useful comparison to relationships between the sexes in Israel and just about anywhere else will be pretty meaningless. Israel has an enormous spectrum of such relationships almost unique to them.

Everything from ultra Orthodox women, Reform women, secular women, to cultural traditions from a dozen different countries.

There is zero conformity. A group of women could be as downtrodden and servile as in a more liberal Muslim nation, whereas right next door another group of women are college educated, wear bikinis and carry machine guns. Next door to them is a group of highly respected scientists and academics, and next to them are the most grotesque and degraded street prostitutes imaginable.

Posted by Anonymoose 2010-12-07 07:05|| 2010-12-07 07:05|| Front Page Top

#9 HR departments are mainly staffed by women, and they do initial screening of most employment applications; they would tend to downgrade attractive women as 'competition.'

Posted by Glenmore 2010-12-07 09:15|| 2010-12-07 09:15|| Front Page Top

#10 My DD is being bullied.

My 1st comment when I saw the ringleader was

She's letting that TROLL control her?

Posted by anonymous2u 2010-12-07 10:29|| 2010-12-07 10:29|| Front Page Top

#11 Let me tell you, work-wise being an attractive woman is much much harder than being plain. You have to be extra nice to the other women at all times, and still they talk behind the back.

I am the youngest on a team of 80% women, 20% male. The other women who are all 25 to 35 years my senior have been hazing me since the day I started to a small degree, because every time they look at me, they remember what it was like to be young and sassy. I sympathize, really. The other problem is some obesee women I work around but not with are much younger than ME. And they look sideways because they know they are younger and have already pretty much ruined their figures. You just cannot win.

It has been really hard to put up with, but eventually I will earn their trust and some day, their wrinkles. I just hope they don't deepen my frown lines in the process. LOL!

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 10:39|| 2010-12-07 10:39|| Front Page Top

#12 The other women who are all 25 to 35 years my senior have been hazing me since the day I started to a small degree, because every time they look at me, they remember what it was like to be young and sassy............

....'back in the day' (before they shi*canned the old man and decided to go it alone on good looks), were married with children or grandchildren to care for and dinner to prepare, ie, the good ole days.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 10:52|| 2010-12-07 10:52|| Front Page Top

#13 Heck I'd love to be a housewife and I can actually cook, clean and sew. I would have been a catch if I was born about forty years earlier. but so many men these days are either
a) Gay
b) Interested in men and women. Read: Gay.
c) Unemployed
d) Want to do whatever the hell they want, and judge a prospective wife on her wallet and looks, meanwhile not being all that themselves. It should be noted that while I am attractive, (7-8) I am not a 9 or 10, so most men I meet are holding out for perfection, or a mailorder bride it seems. It has gotten to where I just say, forget marriage.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 11:08|| 2010-12-07 11:08|| Front Page Top

#14 It has gotten to where I just say, forget marriage. Posted by: Fire and Ice

Whahahaha. You'll be married in 6 months.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 11:09|| 2010-12-07 11:09|| Front Page Top

#15 Oh, so that is six months to get "trophy wife" mugs and a t-shirts printed up. He he. That is what I am wearing to my wedding with jeans. 19.99. Done.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 11:21|| 2010-12-07 11:21|| Front Page Top

#16 Among female candidates, no-picture females have the highest response rate, 22 percent higher than plain females and 30 percent higher than attractive females

I guess an employer sees an unsolicited pic, assumes---here's one that thinks she can ride on her looks.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2010-12-07 11:44|| 2010-12-07 11:44|| Front Page Top

#17 And Fire and Ice had the nerve to accuse me of being shallow.

The women in every office have seen your "sassy" type come and go. The sassy type wear their trashy shoes/clothes to get men's attention and hope to be promoted to positions they don't deserve and aren't qualified for based on their looks and their male bosses sexual attraction. And it often works because of male sexual blindness, but don't think others aren't noticing it (including the H/R departments).

It is Sarah Palin writ large. An attractive woman who quit four colleges before finally getting a vaunted degree in journalism at the fifth. Unfortunately, an aging geezer running for office is overcome by her looks and imagines how fun it will be to work with her and keep him from the dullness and boredom of the campaign trail and work. And whether or not anyone in your world thinks Sarah Palin is qualified and has earned her stripes, most people realize her for what she is, unqualified and a quitter. That's where the hostility comes from. It's like having the t.v. weatherbabe suddenly decide she's going to become leader of the free world.

Shame on McCain for being an old geezer fool and thrusting her upon us.

Posted by Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-12-07 12:58|| 2010-12-07 12:58|| Front Page Top

#18 BCC

You crack me up, its like you've been lying in wait for days to come back with a nasty insult.

I work hard at my job, and not only that, it is not in any bimbo-esque field. And btw, my torso, arms, and legs are covered in fabric while doing it.

Let go of the red shoes.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 13:06|| 2010-12-07 13:06|| Front Page Top

#19 Black Charlie Chinemble5313, I apologize for blowing up at you the other day. I went overboard, forgetting that the best thing to do with such posts is to erase them rather than hitting "submit".

You may want to register as a Republican so you can vote against Sarah Palin in the presidential primary, rather than trusting the Republicans in your district to get it right for you. Because heaven forbid you be forced to choose between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama in November -- you would have to choose between hoping you were wrong about her, or accept another four years of him. *sigh* So often elections in this country are between the lesser of two evils.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-12-07 13:06|| 2010-12-07 13:06|| Front Page Top

#20 You crack me up, its like you've been lying in wait for days to come back with a nasty insult.
Fire and Ice.

I believe it's called.... net stalking.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 13:11|| 2010-12-07 13:11|| Front Page Top

#21 Lying in wait for you...hah. Your comments were just so ridiculous and immature I had to respond.
I've been reading this site since 9/11, it's an interesting site and not because of you.

Trailing wife...in case you hadn't noticed by my posts...I am a Republican. Certainly a very different one than you, but I appreciate the apology. I really don't think my comments deserved the reaction that I received.

Posted by Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-12-07 13:14|| 2010-12-07 13:14|| Front Page Top

#22 Black Charlie Chinemble5313, in the thread you said you were an Independent, and that the election would depend on people like you, who don't like Sarah Palin. So I assumed you were not a registered Republican. I do not assume party affiliation based on participation here, as we have quite a few war-mongering registered Democrats who would like nothing better than Scoop Jackson resurrected, not to mention war-mongering libertarians who find the Republican candidates entirely too fond of the government as it is.

As it happens, I am in principle Independent. I am currently registered as a Republican so I can vote in the primary, as that's the rule in Ohio the last time I looked. But I'm also a war-monger, and the Democrats like to position themselves as the "peace" party.

Surely you've noticed the impassioned political debates here every election? Every election we've lost some regulars, who found the disagreement unacceptable, for a variety of reasons.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-12-07 13:31|| 2010-12-07 13:31|| Front Page Top

#23 What...only Independents and Democrats think that Sarah Palin is unqualified? Hardly. And no, I didn't say I was an Independent. Yes, I vote in the primaries but I won't hesitate to cross over if I feel the need to. I'm hoping the Republicans will come to their senses and choose someone electable to run so we don't have four more years of Obama.

I held my nose and voted for the McCain/Palin ticket even though I thought Palin was a terrible choice, but with Palin on the top of the ticket...I will cross over.

I wouldn't call what goes on in this forum empassioned political debates. I see that anytime anyone dares to venture out of the hagiography of Sarah Palin they are jumped on, shouted down and thrown out the door.

Posted by Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-12-07 13:43|| 2010-12-07 13:43|| Front Page Top

#24 The interplay between Fire and Ice and Besoeker seems much more attuned to the level of seriousness this topic should get, at least here in the 'burg, at least in my opinion. And that's all I have to say about that.

Posted by Glenmore 2010-12-07 13:46|| 2010-12-07 13:46|| Front Page Top

#25 Yes, yes...everyone's for free speech until it doesn't suit them anymore.

Posted by Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-12-07 13:50|| 2010-12-07 13:50|| Front Page Top

#26 I did not realize this thread was about Sarah Palin, BCC or whatever you just called me a few posts ago. It was about attractive women held back in the hiring process. If you've something to add besides attacks, have it it. And really, who you vote for is your business, no one else's. BTW, I think the level of derision heaped on Palin is not equal to other pols. That is to say, you don't have to vote for her, but please keep your problems with Sarah Palin limited to a THREAD ABOUT SARAH PALIN. Thank you. And no, I will not apologize to you, your comments are anything but constructive.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 13:58|| 2010-12-07 13:58|| Front Page Top

#27 that was meant as "have at it"

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 13:59|| 2010-12-07 13:59|| Front Page Top

#28 U go Fire and Ice. I like a woman with balls!

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 14:03|| 2010-12-07 14:03|| Front Page Top

#29 If a woman is attractive and actually qualified, and not just playing for favors based on her looks and not creating a ruckus in the office due to her looks and dress, she will be hired and promoted for her capabilities and actually will have an advantage due to her looks....at least in the US.

Posted by Black Charlie Chinemble5313 2010-12-07 14:07|| 2010-12-07 14:07|| Front Page Top

#30 Time for some levity:

The Wish
I met a fairy today who said she would grant me one wish.

"I want to live forever," I said.

"Sorry" said the fairy, "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that.

"Fine," I said, "I want to die after the Democrats get their heads
out of their asses!"

"You crafty bastard," said the fairy.

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 14:11|| 2010-12-07 14:11|| Front Page Top

#31 And Fire and Ice had the nerve to accuse me of being shallow

Yep, right after I admitted I am shallow. Which you have yet to cop to, yet you think a pair of shoes makes a candidate unpresidential. Heck, its not like she wore flip flops in a biohazard lab with shorts for crying out loud.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 14:13|| 2010-12-07 14:13|| Front Page Top

#32 Besoeker, nice.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 14:15|| 2010-12-07 14:15|| Front Page Top

#33 BBC is an ass, that's why he threadjacked. He's as bad as the birthers.

Posted by OldSpook 2010-12-07 14:16|| 2010-12-07 14:16|| Front Page Top

#34 Fire'n'Ice... How old (or young)? Range suffices.

1. 18 - 24
2. 25 - 29
3. 30 - 35
4. 36 - 41
5. 41 +

Thx!

BTW, when you say 7/8, I translate to 6.5. It has come to my attention that American women have a bit overinflated reckon of their SMV number. A bit is an understatement, it is not unusual that they overiflate by 2 points. I think you may be somewhat closer in your judgment to the actual figure, because you seem fairly discerning, so I grant you one point. :-)

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 14:50|| 2010-12-07 14:50|| Front Page Top

#35

1. 18 - 24
2. 25 - 29
3. 30 - 35
4. 36 - 41
5. 41 - 47
6. 47 - 59
7. 59 - 63
7. 63 - ring me up

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 14:54|| 2010-12-07 14:54|| Front Page Top

#36 36-27-36
thirties
divorced
5'3"
120
And I worked as a receptionist. And no, I am not a bimbo.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 14:59|| 2010-12-07 14:59|| Front Page Top

#37 Ha ha Besoeker. The love boat still floats in his harbor. Dude, you're probably married.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 15:01|| 2010-12-07 15:01|| Front Page Top

#38 Indeed I am, soon to be 34 years. Might be a difficult sell with Ms. Besoeker, but would adoption be an option?

Posted by Besoeker 2010-12-07 15:04|| 2010-12-07 15:04|| Front Page Top

#39 BBC. whaddaya mean by unqualified? She ran for a VP!

So, here is the skinny:

Was she less qualified than:
1. Quayle
2. Gore
3. Biden
4. BHO (I know this is a president, but IMHO, he would be less qualified to run as VP than Palin).

Yes, I'd love to see Bolton as a candidate, but if not available, Palin may do, rather than RINOs like Romney.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 15:07|| 2010-12-07 15:07|| Front Page Top

#40 ROFL!

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 15:08|| 2010-12-07 15:08|| Front Page Top

#41 FaI, darn, I swore recently that my target would be about 25 (I am 56, but you know that's nothing for us vampires from Transylvania, hehe). I have to admit, your data look yummy though.

I suppose you probably have a kid or two. That maybe a harder sell, depending on their attitude (kids are spoilt rotten these days). It may be actually a bit more disconcerting if you don't have any.

But the most important things is... who initiated the divorce? What was the stated reason?

If you feel I am prying to close for comfort, feel free to decline answers.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 15:26|| 2010-12-07 15:26|| Front Page Top

#42 And thus, the article had it right. Attractive women are put to much more scrutiny than a plain Jane. Anything beyond my vital description is need to know.

Posted by Fire and ice 2010-12-07 15:38|| 2010-12-07 15:38|| Front Page Top

#43 Bah, nope, FaI.

Let me put it rather gently. Plain Janes do not encounter any scrutiny in this particular aspect of my interest. They are simply off my radar. I know how it sounds, but it does not mean I am plain-jane-phobic! :-)

If I were hiring, I think I would ask the female applicants to come to the interview with a brown bag over their heads, to be faire and square.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 15:56|| 2010-12-07 15:56|| Front Page Top

#44 As an HR Consultant a previous client had my group 'clean out' their HR Dept after they had to pay a BIG settlement for blatant sexual and age discrimination. Seems the 'HR Professionals' were looking for either a date or spouse two or three, not the most qualified candidates. When they hired us to fix the mess the only solution we could honestly recommend was exciting new careers in fast food for their HR Professionals.

Posted by Bill Griling5080 2010-12-07 16:01|| 2010-12-07 16:01|| Front Page Top

#45 BG, that is why I did my hiring myself. Even hiring an employment agency was not, IMHO, a reliable way to get some good people. They had different sets of criteria and their own biases. I know, for a biz with more than a handful of employees, it is practically a necessity to have a HR dept., though if I had up to 50, I'd still do it myself.

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 18:31|| 2010-12-07 18:31|| Front Page Top

#46 I'm 58, 6 feet, own my home, and have most of my original teeth. I also have horses.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2010-12-07 20:19|| 2010-12-07 20:19|| Front Page Top

#47 You forgot to mention your glorious beard, dear Deacon Blues, truly a thing of wonder, although .com's was supposedly even more so. But I never saw his, so that must remain conjecture.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-12-07 20:27|| 2010-12-07 20:27|| Front Page Top

#48 TW, I am sure my soup catcher is competitive. :-)

Posted by twobyfour 2010-12-07 21:20|| 2010-12-07 21:20|| Front Page Top

#49 It's so much easier being a guy. A job, car, house, and cable tv is all that is needed to be a chick magnet.

Posted by rammer 2010-12-07 21:40|| 2010-12-07 21:40|| Front Page Top

#50

Okay, to Rammer, my new monied land baron friend, I see your job car house and cable tv and raise you a joke for all my ladies in the house:

A job, car, ~~house~~, roof, and cable tv ...Those are all that are needed for a woman to be a dude magnet.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 21:56|| 2010-12-07 21:56|| Front Page Top

#51 Wait a minute.

~~A job, car, house, roof, and cable tv~~

Female parts is pretty much all that is needed.

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 22:07|| 2010-12-07 22:07|| Front Page Top

#52 an on going story....
A bit over a decade ago a "hot" number in her early-to-mid 30's came in as a corporate level division prez a the multi-national I was enslaved at.

When she was publicly introduced to the division at an off-site event.... I said to myself ... she dresses too sexy... and acts to sexy... this woman is trouble.... I'm putting my nose to the grind-stone and ignoring office politics...

After a flurry of moves and counter moves she was out after 1 year....

So... she jumped to a smaller firm as the CTO....
Within a year or two ... she accused her fellow board members of sexual harassment and won $26,000,000! Whoo! Ho!

She bought a golf course in the southern burbs... divorced her husband and married the handsome golf pro.... (It's good to be queen too!)

Then she weaseled her way into another start-up as CTO and..... It no longer shows a profit....

So... yes... sometimes warning lights go on!

Posted by Water Modem 2010-12-07 22:14|| 2010-12-07 22:14|| Front Page Top

#53
Although, I bet somewhere right now there is a man borrowing a page from this woman's play book, trying to hook a rich widow snowbird down in Florida in a housing development on a golf cart...

Posted by Fire and Ice 2010-12-07 22:27|| 2010-12-07 22:27|| Front Page Top

#54 Likely handsome enough to be a golf pro..... whoops...

Posted by Water Modem 2010-12-07 22:42|| 2010-12-07 22:42|| Front Page Top

#55 They deserve each other....

My point is that sometimes flags go off..
I remember a few guys that wore Armani and had a bit too much colon and too big a smile... Alarms go off with them too. Usually justified alarms....

Posted by Water Modem 2010-12-07 22:45|| 2010-12-07 22:45|| Front Page Top

#56 I was always alarmed by guys with too much colon. It usually prevented me looking at their smile....but I'm like that

Posted by Frank G 2010-12-07 22:53|| 2010-12-07 22:53|| Front Page Top

#57 I was always alarmed by guys with too much colon.

The odor is distinctive, and they needn't have bombs internally installed to be dangerous.

/I do apologize, but that's the first thing I thought of.

Posted by trailing wife 2010-12-08 00:00|| 2010-12-08 00:00|| Front Page Top

00:05 Mikey Hunt
00:04 anon1
00:00 trailing wife
23:57 trailing wife
23:49 trailing wife
23:45 Fire and Ice
23:43 Skidmark
23:26 tipper
23:16 Fire and Ice
23:15 tipper
23:14 Thing From Snowy Mountain
23:03 trailing wife
22:55 Frank G
22:54 SteveS
22:53 Frank G
22:47 Frank G
22:45 anon1
22:45 Water Modem
22:44 Frank G
22:44 Fire and Ice
22:42 Water Modem
22:42 trailing wife
22:41 Fire and Ice
22:39 gorb