Relative importance of applicant sex, attractiveness, and scholastic standing in evaluation of job applicant resumes.

Abstract

College students (« = 30) and professional interviewers (n ~ 30) rated and ranked bogus resumes on suitability for a managerial position. Applicant sex, physical attractiveness, and scholastic standing were systematically varied in the resumes. A 2 X 2 X 2 X 3 repeated measures analysis of variance on the ratings yielded four significant main effects (p < .OS), while the same analysis on the rankings yielded three significant main effects (p<.Q\). Students rated applicants more favorably than professionals. Both groups preferred males to females, attractive applicants to unattractive applicants, and applicants of high scholastic standing. The latter variable accounted for the greatest proportion of variance. However, internal analyses of the rankings revealed sex and physical attractiveness were more important than indicated by the analysis of variance.