Job Seekers Feel Physical Appearance Impacts Recruitment

Close to half of all respondents said they had actual experience with outward looks seeming to influence the recruitment process.(image: Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, April 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Many job seekers feel that physical appearance influences the recruitment process.

Saramin, an online job portal, conducted a survey of 1,627 job seekers asking them whether looks are thought of as ‘career specifications’, 74.8 percent of whom answered ‘yes’.

Respondents believed physical appearance influenced the recruitment process as much as 46.1 percent, up by 12.2 percent points from last year (33.9 percent).

Roughly two thirds of respondents picked ‘facial impression, expression and mood’ as what impacts the recruitment process the most, followed by ‘physique or body figure’ (14.5 percent), ‘facial looks’ (10.3 percent), ‘clothes’ (3.8 percent), and ‘cleanliness’ (2.2 percent).

Close to half of all respondents said they had actual experience with outward looks seeming to influence the recruitment process.

Most of their experiences involved the moment when interview questions were being concentrated on the applicant with good looks (39.2 percent).

Other experiences included ‘always being eliminated at the interview’ (25.2 percent), ‘being asked about outward looks’ (22.8 percent), ‘complimenting another applicant for good looks’ (18 percent), and ‘when outward looks were included in application requirements’ (16.7 percent).

At 67.6 percent, the majority of respondents said they work to maintain a good appearance in order to get a job.

Those surveyed said they spend an average of 158,000 won (US$130) every month for ‘beauty management’, which amounts to close to 2 million won every year.

Among respondents, 42.7 percent said they go to a dermatologist to take care of their skin, followed by ‘going on a diet’ (40.3 percent), ‘exercising’ (39.2 percent), ‘practicing facial expressions’ (31.7 percent), and ‘changing hairstyles’ (23.3 percent).

Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)