How much do you think appearance does/should impact employability?

[Joseph41]

You could have six degrees and amazing experience - but if you walk into a job interview, say, covered in tattoos, would your employability drop? How important is how you present yourself?

According to this article, "new research suggests tattoos are no longer a disadvantage when it comes to getting a job, keeping it and how much you get paid for it."

The survey had a relatively small sample size (2,000 people), but I can't help but feel like the sentiment of these results is encouraging. Have you had experiences of appearance affecting employability in the past? If you were hiring, how much would it matter to you?

[Bri MT]

Because of the halo effect, if the interviewer views the interviewees appearance favourably, they are likely to think that they are smarter, kinder, a better team player etc. than what the interviewee actually is. 

Then you also have the element of someone who is dressed more proffesionally may seem to be more professional and care about the job more.


The extent of how important this is depends on the role, but I do think it's still important to present yourself in the best/most appropriate light - including your appearance.

[PhoenixxFire]

I don't think things like tattoos should affect employment at all, however if you show up for an interview at a place where everyone wears suits everyday and you're wearing track pants and a hoodie then I think it's fair enough to judge that as reflective of the person being unprofessional.

I've only had one job interview and I wore my school uniform to avoid that issue haha

I've also been on the other side, interviewing teachers and I don't think their appearance affected what I thought of them (I hope it didn't) - I cant remember what any of them wore. What I do remember is how they walked into the room. Everyone says that confidence is what people notice, and I'd never really believed it until I interviewed people. I don't think I can quite describe the relief when the last candidate for a position walked in confidently, smiled, shook our hands etc. after a series of rather disappointing interviews. Just from that, literally the first 10 seconds, I would have picked him over all of the other candidates. I think there's a difference between how you present yourself and who you are (if that makes any sense) and the former is more likely to get judged.

[Sine]

Obviously can't take a single study to be true without looking at it more deeply and also having a look for similar studies (which I haven't checked for).
I think tattoos wouldn't be too much of a problem since you can cover them up  - I know some teacher's at my school had to make sure their tattoos weren't visible.

I'd say for a face tattoos all these findings probably wouldn't hold true.

[spectroscopy]

I think yes it is a big factor, even though it probably shouldnt be.

When i first read the title I thought you were talking about appearance as in good looking vs ugly, for which I am pretty sure (?) there is empirical evidence to show that looking good makes it easier to find a good job. Regarding tattoos - I definitely think tattoos in general have become more okay. They used to be this crazy symbol of rebelliousness but now I know people who have small tattoos on like their arms or something that are visible at work (corporate job) and it is definitely okay as long as you are still good.

I do think that certain physical things can be indicative of stuff, or I should say - people use appearance to make deductions about someone. Like if someone comes to a job interview to be an accountant with face tattoos and a leather jacket he is probably not going to get the job because the interviewer would interpret his appearance to mean things such as: criminal, untrustworthy, violent, doesn't care about the job (no suit maybe), etc. So I think with the example of tattoos in particular, there is much less of a stigma around them in wider western society today, so you can more easily get away with pieces, especially if they are particularly original or artistic. I definitely think appearance does matter to employability, even though it is probably declining and by the time we are all 40+ it may be gone completely.

The extreme example above is indeed extreme, but I guess if you use the same logic to more realistic situations it may become more understandable. eg: not wearing a suit to an assessment centre for a graduate job when everyone is. Even if the company has more casual clothes, they might think you dont take it seriously enough or care enough to try, and think less of you for it. When I was hiring for a small company in the finance industry the dude I interviewed with would say shit like (paraphrased)"he was unshaven and it was unkept, he definitely has a bad attention to detail and will make mistakes in the minutiae of the role". So you really can't be too careful.

The biggest thing definitely as mentioned above is how you carry yourself and confidence. You can not be as good looking but if you walk in the room like you own it and are respectful of everyone but very good with what you are doing then you will probably leave a great impression

[Lear]

Relevant

[sarangiya]

In a different way, being in service will always remind you of your physical appearance.
At the oncology clinic I am at, I have been no stranger to passing comments about my appearance. Pretty much all are with good intention, though.
All real examples: 
"You should get some meat on those bones"
"You look like you're about 14"
These are the most common, but if I ever have a breakout (of acne):
"Did you hit your head?"
"There's X clinic just down the road that will fix that for you"

So even though it probably wouldn't affect my employability, in some areas of work you're just going to have to face the fact that people will judge how you look. I don't know if they would actually like me more, or think I was a more capable worker, if I were taller and put on weight, but all I know is that they notice.
I can't imagine what kind of reaction you would get if you had more unique physical features than a gangly teenager with a pimple on their forehead.