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Bosses go for looks

17 Mar 2008

Bosses go for looks Almost nine in ten bosses have admitted that they give jobs to the most attractive candidates, providing good news for younger applicants such as students.

Research from the employment law firm Peninsula has revealed that the majority of employers who were polled said that at some point they had given somebody a job because of their looks rather than their skills.

David Price, head of Diversity for Peninsula said: "I was surprised at the number of people who have based an employment decision on looks and it's turning into a new form of modern discrimination. Using such a strategy is not without legal risk."

He added that companies should look at their qualifications and experience before labelling people because of their appearance.

Mr Price concluded that he was not surprised by the findings of the survey, saying that people buy into the person not the qualifications and the "overweight, tattooed and unattractive people are not currently specifically protected by discrimination laws".

The research also showed that 92 per cent of employers said that the appearance of a candidate at a job interview has influenced their decision on who gets the job.

Peninusla provides an employment law and health and safety service to companies in the UK.

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