Will Cosmetic Surgery Give You an Edge on a Job?

by Lisa Schweitzer (Subscribe to Lisa Schweitzer's posts)
Posted Jul 22nd 2010 at 10:00AM

Photo: Getty Images

Guess what? It helps to be good-looking when you're looking for a job or a raise. You might not want to believe it, but according to a survey done by Newsweek, it's the truth.

Fifty-seven percent of hiring managers said that qualified but unattractive candidates are likely to have a harder time landing a job, while more than half advised spending as much time and money on "making sure they look attractive" as on perfecting a résumé.

When it comes to women, apparently, flaunting our assets works: 61 percent of managers (the majority of them men) said it would be an advantage for a woman to wear clothing showing off her figure at work.

Asked to rank employee attributes in order of importance, managers placed looks above education: of nine character traits, it came in third, below experience (No. 1) and confidence (No. 2) but above "where a candidate went to school" (No. 4).

"This is the new reality of the job market. It's better to be average and good- looking than brilliant and unattractive," said one New York recruiter in an interview with Newsweek.

We asked Dr. Yan Trokel, a New York City cosmetic surgeon, for his take on the survey and which procedures patients are asking for in order to keep up with the rest of the workforce.

"It's true that when we look good and refreshed we give an aura of confidence and other people tend to respond to that," said Trokel.

"Clients generally want to look refreshed and well-rested. We have had people come in to get quick and easy procedures to look better for a job opportunity or job retention. Things like Botox, fillers and laser treatments so they can get right back to work, with that little edge. It's not unlike when you get a haircut and feel really good about how you look, it's just in a doctor's office," he explained.

"I don't think plastic surgery is going to help you get a job, in anything other than the modeling or acting arena. Beauty is not the be-all, end-all. I don't think someone incapable will get a job over someone qualified just because they're beautiful," said Trokel.

Here's hoping more people subscribe to that theory!

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