Youve got the look?

Dealing with career image

Professor Tristram Hooley

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About this work

This is a new strand of work that Ive been undertaking with
Julia Yates (University of East London).
1. If you look the part youll get the job (literature based
study now published)
2. Graduate Dress Code (qualitative work with students
currently under review)
3. Giving advice on career image (quantitative survey in
the UK - currently analysing data)
4. Would you send a selfie to an employer? (just
starting)

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What this isnt

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There is a lot of advice out there

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Overview
Attractiveness
and career
Career image
Practitioner
responses
Addressing this in
practice

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Overview
Attractiveness
and career
Career image
Practitioner
responses
Addressing this in
practice

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www.derby.ac.uk

6 new clients
We are going to show you the next six clients who are
going to walk into your office.
What is your first reaction to each of them.
What do you think their chance of finding work is?
What do you think employers first reactions to them would be?
Is there anything that you would want to talk to them about.

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Key issues
On one hand
Smartness
Appropriateness
Attractiveness
Taste
Employers expectations

On the other
Class
Gender
Age
Disability
Race
Mainstream cultural
expectations

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Some tensions
Fitting in

Being what
others what you
to be

Being yourself

Standing
out
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What would the following women wear?

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1. Black suit, crisp white shirt,

black shoes with a low heel.
- Hobbs, LK Bennett

Management
consultant

2. Nice jeans, black top, black

jacket, coloured scarf, low heeled
boots.

University lecturer

- TKMaxx, Fat Face, Gap

3. Nice jeans, fashionable top,
heels. Very well groomed really
smart and tidy, clean and ironed.
- Top Shop

Hairdresser

4. Casual trousers, shirt,

cardigan, loafer moccasin shoes.
- Gap, White Stuff

Primary teacher
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5. Skinny jeans, print t-shirt,

converse trainers.

Advertising copywriter

- Hollister, All Saints

6. Black leggings, a dress, cardigan
and trainers.

Community project admin

- Charity shops or fairtrade catalogue

7. Smart black trousers. Flat
comfortable black boots. A long
sleeved top without a collar and a
cardigan or fleece.

Social worker

- Next or a charity shop.

8. Very smart red wool jacket with a
grey pencil skirt, silky blouse, nude
tights and high heels. One statement
piece of jewellery.

Corporate HR

- Boden, Hobbs, Reiss

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Some evidence
Beauty and attractiveness offers benefits across a range
of different employment contexts for both men and
women.
This has been observed in relation to various aspects of
attractiveness (e.g. facial attractiveness, weight, height)
Dress is an important aspect of this, but may be more
important for women than men.
A beauty is beastly effect has also been observed for
some roles and in some situations.

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From an employers point of view

Attractive sales assistants sell more

Attractive CEOs lead to increased share prices
Attractive negotiators get better deals
Attractive bosses generate more publicity
Attractive hedge fund managers attract greater fund flows
Attractive political candidates get more votes

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Discussion
So what do we think about this evidence and about our
assumptions and reactions?

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Overview
Attractiveness
and career
Career image
Practitioner
responses
Addressing this in
practice

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Getting job
interviews

Career
Image
Beauty

Job
offers

Selfpresentation

Interpersonal
skills

Promotion

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Aesthetic labour
Some industries overtly recruit for appearance.
Aethetic labour describes the effort (and cost) involved in
making yourself look good.
Can be seen as a way of discriminating on class as well as
appearance.
Particular issue in the service industry and other customer
facing roles.
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Graduate dress code

Obviously people do still go on image.
If youve got tattoos people think youre a bad influence.
In

the pub youre not allowed piercings, tattoos, or anything

that intimates that you have anything to your personality
other than the job. () Youre not so much an individual
youre just a cog in the machine

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How graduates manage these issues

Ill wear what I want to wear.
If I was a teacher, I wouldnt take my ear piercing out,
because you cant be defined by what you do. Then thats all
people ever know about you.
If there are rules, arent you just going to follow
them?
Id wear a suit. Theres nothing else you can wear really
You sort of pick-up whats acceptable, like, you know, to
what extent are like jeans acceptable in a work place.

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The role of gender

If you wear a dress you might be a bit more feminine than if
you were wearing like jeans and a t-shirt or something like
that.() I do think there is probably a certain amount of
pressure on women to look a certain way.
The more made-up you are, youve got that image of being
more vacuous.
Its a fine line for womenthey can look smart or like
theyre on a night out.

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Discussion
Is career image important?
Which element is most important?
What do you engage with in your practice?

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Overview
Attractiveness
and career
Career image
Practitioner
responses
Addressing this in
practice

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The practitioners angle

How important are these to career success?
5
4
3
2
1
0

Interpersonal Skills

Beauty

Self-presentation

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Would you ever advise a client on how they looked?

Yes
No
Maybe

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What do practitioners think?

450
400
350
300
250
200

would raise it
think it's important

150
100
50
0

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What would you talk about?

What would you not talk about?

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Overview
Attractiveness
and career
Career image
Practitioner
responses
Addressing this in
practice

www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
www.derby.ac.uk

Should we?
Ethical considerations. Is it right to talk about these
issues?
Practical considerations. Do we know enough about
these issues?
Client expectations. Will they be horrified if we bring it
up?

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Strategies

Consciously avoiding discussion of appearance.

Addressing extreme cases.
Referral.
Facilitating reflection.
Viewing career image as a career management skill.
Selective advice giving.
Providing advice on career image.

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Ideologies
Focus on society

Focus on individual

Change

Radical:
I seek to change societies
focus on image. It is
unfair and wrong.

Progressive:
I owe it to my clients to let
them know how the world
is and what they need to
do to succeed in it

Status quo

Conservative:
The advertising industry
does well when its full of
beautiful people. Its my
job to encourage beautiful
people to consider this
industry.

Non-directive:
My job is to help you work
out what you want to do,
and not to impose my
values or opinions.

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Where do you stand?

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References

Baert, S. S., & Decuypere, L. L. (2014). Better sexy than flexy? A lab experiment assessing the impact of perceived
attractiveness and personality traits on hiring decisions. Applied Economics Letters,21(9), 597-601
Commisso, M., & Finkelstein, L. (2012). Physical Attractiveness Bias in Employee Termination. Journal Of Applied
Social Psychology, 42(12), 2968-2987.
Hakim C (2010). Erotic capital. The European Sociological Review 26, 499518.
Hazen, L. & Syrdhal, J. (2010). Dress Codes and Appearance Policies: What Not to Wear at Work. The Colorado
Lawyer, 55.
Hooley, T. & Yates, J. (2015). If you look the part youll get the job. Should career professionals help clients to
enhance their career image? British Journal of Guidance and Counselling.
Johnson, S.K., Podratz, K.E., Dipboye, R.L., Gibbons, E. (2010). Physical Attractiveness Biases in Ratings of
Employment Suitability: Tracking Down the Beauty is Beastly Effect. The Journal of Social Psychology, 150, 301
318.
Judge, T. A., & Cable, D. M. (2011). When it comes to pay, do the thin win? The effect of weight on pay for men and
women. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 96, 95-112.
Nickson, D., Warhurst, C., & Dutton, E. (2005). The importance of attitude and appearance in the service encounter
in retail and hospitality. Managing Service Quality, 15, 195-208.
Toledano, E. (2013). May the best (looking) man win: The unconscious role of attractiveness in employment
decisions. Cornell HR Review.
Tsetsura, K. (2012). A Struggle for Legitimacy: Russian Women Secure Their Professional Identities in Public
Relations in a Hyper-Sexualized Patriarchal Workplace. Public Relations Journal, 6, 1-21.

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Tristram Hooley
Professor of Career Education
International Centre for Guidance Studies
University of Derby
http://www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
t.hooley@derby.ac.uk
@pigironjoe
Blog at
http://adventuresincareerdevelopment.wordpress.com
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egs www.derby.ac.uk/icegs
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Conclusions
Appearance and attractiveness is important for
individuals careers.
The concept of career image provides a way to organise
the different domains of attractiveness.
Graduates anticipated these issues would be important.
Career professionals in the UK are discussing these
issues with clients.
But there are practical, ethical and political issues in
addressing these issues.

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