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Handsome men are rejected for competitive jobs

Not only women suffer from competition in the workplace, but also men. Handsome men may be turned down for competitive jobs but prefer roles that require collaboration, new research shows. The study found that good-looking men are perceived as more empowered, so managers in collaborative workplaces are more likely to hire good-looking male candidates than those who look less good.

However, in the competitive workplaces such as sales departments, handsome men can be threatening to future colleagues. The researchers did not find this effect in good-looking women because female attractiveness is not associated with competence. These findings are based on four experiments.