Good looks and good practice: the attitudes of career practitioners to attractiveness and appearance

ABSTRACT

Empirical evidence attests the impact that career image has on objective career success, yet little is known of how career practitioners conceptualise and operationalise this information. This article presents the quantitative findings of an online survey of career practitioners (n = 399, 74% female, 89% white and 75% from the U.K.) exploring their attitudes and practices towards issues of appearance and attractiveness. Career practitioners who participated in this survey acknowledged that beauty, self-presentation and interpersonal skills influence career success, and 96% of them considered conversations about career image as part of their professional remit. The career practitioners felt relatively comfortable and well informed in their discussions in this arena, but would welcome further guidance and training to inform their practice. Ethical and practical implications for the profession are considered.

KEYWORDS:

• Career guidance
• career image
• appearance
• attractiveness
• career practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Julia Yates is a senior lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of East London. Julia runs their MSc in career coaching and teaches on a range of other post-graduate programmes. Her research interests are career decision-making and effective learning and teaching strategies for developing career practitioners.

Tristram Hooley is Professor of Career Education and Head of iCeGS. He is responsible for overseeing the development of the research and education programmes run by the Centre. He has research interests in the role of technology in career development, the careers of researchers, careers policy and the changing nature of careers work in schools.

Kiren Kaur Bagri completed a BEd in Education Studies an MA in Modern Liberal Arts at the University of Winchester. She is currently working as a research intern for the International Centre of Guidance Studies at the University of Derby.

Notes

1 The survey instrument is available as a supplemental file on the journal website.