YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO GET HIRED IF YOU STAND LIKE SUPERMAN?
It's a bird! It's a Plane! It's Bert from accounting!
A bunch of studies has found it’s harder to get ahead at work if you’re NOT so good-looking. Pretty people tend to be hired more, get better performance reviews, and make more money.
But a new study at the University of Buffalo found there’s a trick that can help people who aren’t as fortunate in the looks department. Just stand like SUPERMAN.
Researchers held mock job interviews and evaluated people on how effective their job pitches were. In the first round, managers viewed good-looking people as more hirable. Partly because they were more attractive, but also because they were more confident.
For the second phase, researchers had the less-attractive group do their pitch in a “power stance,” with their feet shoulder-width apart, hands-on-hips, chest out, and chin up, the way Superman poses. And that basically evened the playing field.
Luckily, standing like an overly confident weirdo isn’t the only thing that works. No matter how attractive you are, they say anything that makes you feel more powerful can help. So things like giving yourself a pep talk or visualizing success also work.
