Make More Money by Getting Plastic Surgery

I've talked many times about how your career is your most important financial asset and how you should make the most of it. Turns out one way you can make more money is to simply look good. The details from the Brazen Careerist:

Brace yourself for the most thorough compendium of research I’ve seen about how good-looking people get more of everything. The book is Looks: Why They Matter More than You Ever Imagined, by Gordon Patzer, professor at Roosevelt University in Chicago and former dean at California State University.

It is well-documented that good-looking people make more money than everyone else. Taller men make more money than shorter men. If a woman is just 13 pounds overweight, she is penalized at work.

We are hard-wired to treat good-looking people better and it’s pretty much impossible to overcome this tendency. Patzer shows that this salary discrepancy is true even in law firms, where the partners doing the hiring are acutely aware of how illegal it is to favor good-looking people. Researchers at University of Texas, found that even mothers treat good-looking children better than average-looking ones.

Yikes! I've got the tall thing going for me, thankfully, though this "good-looking" thing is a bit of a concern.

In addition, good-looking people make more money for their companies:

Before you complain about how unfair all this is, Patzer shows that good-looking people are actually better for the company’s bottom line. This is because highly attractive people actually earn more money for a company than average looking people. One study in Holland, for example, showed that companies with better looking management consistently billed more hours at higher rates than companies with average looking management.

And, while good-looking executives cost a company more money (because they have higher salaries), they actually increase the bottom line so much that the unconscious premium in pay that people give to the good-looking is actually a wise investment.

Ok, so this research begs two questions:

1. What can I do if I'm not good-looking?
2. What can I do to make myself look better?

Here are their suggestions:

1. Stay out of sales and management.
2. Be honest with yourself.
3. Get plastic surgery. Maybe.

Hmmm. I'm not sure what to make out of this. A few thoughts:

1. If you're not good-looking, you'll need to make up for it in other ways -- better skills, abilities, etc.

2. Seems to me that if you're a strong performer, you'll get ahead no matter what you look like. Then again, maybe it's better for good-looking people to be strong performers (maybe they get more cooperation, etc.)

3. The plastic surgery can be a business-based decision for some. Look at the costs versus the benefits -- maybe it's worth it.

Your thoughts?

Comments

How about see how truly "scientific" these studies were before you fret that you can't make it in a career because you aren't hot enough.

Sheesh.

[Kyle]

This doesn't surprive me at all but there is a potential bias in these results. Of course it helps a lot to be good-looking in a salesposition. Everybody paying attention can see that in action every day. Sales people also happen to be the most highly-compensated employes at most firms outside of the executive suite. That undoubtedly skews the averages.

[JK]

One thing I've noticed with people who sell things at trade shows, etc, is that the more attractive people are often more social and fun to be around, as well as acting more confident.

At these types of events, it is easy to see who is in it for the paycheck, and who believes in the product/service they are selling.

JK

[Bobby]

This isn't the first research on this topic. Mostly it's an unconscience thing. They talk about symetry too. Either way I'm screwed.

[Heidi]

Thank god I'm tall.

Trophy wives have known this for years. It shouldn't be a surprise that it applies to the corporate world as well.

[Jim]

Making yourself more attractive won't necessarily get you a raise. The study cited only showed that there was wage discrepancy. They don't know exactly why. Discrimination is one likely cause. But its quite possible that more attractive people end up with better self confidence which then leads them to achieve more.

Getting plastic surgery might help if you're in a very vain/shallow job where looks are very important such as actors or TV personalities. But for anything else I think it would be a poor investment and I can't see how it would pay for itself financially.

Jim

[Gavagirl]

Why not just get fit (plenty of reasons to do that anyway), get a decent haircut, look for clothes made from decent fabrics that actually FIT? There are lots of people I see everyday who could benefit greatly from simple things like that. The current freakish standard of Hollywood "beauty" isn't really what people need. I honestly think that very often, people think they see "more attractive" when what is really setting a person apart is the fact that they groom themselves well, wear good clothes, know how to apply makeup (if they are women), and have learned to carry themselves with some grace and confidence. It takes far less money and effort for most people than we are led to believe. Surgery, feh!

[Darin H]

Well, I was going to make an insightful comment about doing small things to improve your appearance without surgery, but Gavagirl did a good job covering it :)

[Irina]

I am almost 50 y.o. I am an event entertainer. I have to sell myself every day and I do need to look my best every day. Would I consider a plastic surgery? I don't think so. I don't say never. You know, never say never.

I am also an MD and, in my humble opinion, the overall effect of plastic surgery is somewhat overestimated.

People want to believe in magic, be it a magic pill or magic knife fix.

Alas, it takes more than plastic surgery to look good. Here are my top 4 *beauty tips* that will always make you stand out.

1. Be fit and healthy. Eat well, sleep well, do physical work, all of these things will reflect on your look.

2. Be clean, that's no brainer, right?

3. Be kind, thankful, thoughtful, it will immediately reflect in your eyes. If you have mean or thoughtless eyes, it doesn't matter how beautiful your face is, you are not attractive.

4. Be yourself, be confident in who you are, love yourself.

If you can fix those 4 things, you will be well on your way to being good looking, no matter what your hight, weight or age is...

I speak from years of practicing those *beauty tips* and they worked wonders for me.

[Sara]

I think one thing that would be worth the money to do is to fix your teeth. It is remarkable how much more attractive a person looks with white, straight, even teeth. Plus people definitely make negative (unconscious) assumptions about your background, family status, intelligence-level, etc, however unfair they may be, if you have bad teeth.

[Big Cheese]

What about getting a hair transplant? Do you need a full head of hair to be more attractive? It seems like shaving the head is popular in the UK but it does look a bit aggressive also in my opinion.

-BC

has anyone here seen the movie Zoolander?

"You gotta look good to feel good, and youve got to feel good to do good"

so we all may as well get fit, straighten our teeth, and get some aesthetic facial re-engineering.