Brains Over Beauty

We all know that good looks and beauty can give someone a leg up in the professional world. But how much energy should I focus towards dolling up for my next interview? Will it really make that big of a difference? And more importantly, what does this mean for my video resume?

All of these questions bring up valid concerns. However, you may be surprised to learn what researchers have found about the link between beauty and career success.

According to an article by LearnVest, economy professor Daniel Hamermesh has calculated that an attractive person will make an average of $230,000 more during their life than someone who is not as good looking. Furthermore, across genders, attractive individuals can expect to earn 6% more than their average-looking peers.

Yes, these numbers are quite startling! $230,000 certainly is a lot of money, especially for a character trait that is oftentimes irrelevant and out of your control. However, before you jump to conclusions, allow me to qualify this news: the researchers also found that there is a trait that can predetermine your salary more than your looks. It’s your education. For every additional year of education you receive, researchers say that you’ll increase your salary by 10%. To put this into perspective, this percentage is almost double that of the percentage increase you can expect from your good looks.

This means that good looks do not guarantee your salary or professional success. At the end of the day, a highly skilled and experienced individual will have more success than an attractive person without these same competencies. Employers care more about your professional abilities and experiences than they do about your looks. So in the half hour you have to prepare before your big interview, you’d be wise to spend more time preparing how you want to articulate your skills, strengths, and experiences rather than spending that extra time to curl your hair or put on more make-up.

Lastly, this information should by no means dispel you from creating a video resume. Employers are going to find out what you look like eventually. If an employer wants to discriminate based on beauty, they will do so once you show up for the interview, for example. But by providing them with your video resume, you can ensure that their first impression of you is what you give them—not the morning selfie an employer finds when he or she is scouring your Facebook. Moreover, creating a video resume requires a certain level of confidence, which is one of the soft skills that employers are most attracted to. Creating a video resume can only help you in your job search.

With that, compliment your education, skills, and experiences with the confidence you can showcase in your video resume and you’ll be optimizing your chances of success! Get started by signing up for a free Jobma account and creating a video resume today.