Good looks can help you get hired

Good looks play an important role in your getting hired, a news study has suggested.

Richard Hall and Diane van den Broek from the University of Sydney business school polled clothing stores in Paddington and Bondi Junction and were surprised to find how important appearances were to would-be employers, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

About 85 percent of store managers said that having the right appearance was important while they recruited new staff; it came to a higher proportion than having previous experience (78 per cent) or having the right qualifications (just 44 per cent).

Hall said that the conclusion that can be made from the study is that a person's appearance, presentation and personality is more important than their experience or formal skills in the area.

Another Sydney University researcher, Professor Chris Warhurst, said that demand for workers, who look good, is spreading now.

He said that a lot of research has found that demand for good looking workers is coming out of industries such as airlines and TV and is now becoming much more mainstream.

He said that companies in more prosaic industries have begun to use employee looks to appeal to their customers.