[Kingsley Davis]

This is nothing new around here but it's a start.

"In an experiment that involved sending out more than 2,500 resumes either with or without photos of the applicant, economics researchers Bradley Ruffle at Ben-Gurion University and Ze’ev Shtudiner at Ariel University Centre sought to answer the question of whether being good looking could help you find a job. The answer surprised them: Not if you’re a woman. Pretty women faced an uphill struggle to get a chance at a job.

The economists hadn’t reckoned on the fact that 93 percent of the HR staffers deciding whether to call in someone for an interview were female. It turns out that HR women (who also tend to be young and single and hence still in the dating market for men) are eager to meet with handsome men. But they’re jealous of beautiful women. So your business is losing out on talented people (and wasting time with untalented ones) based on their looks."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kylesmith/20...partments/

[Basil Ransom]

Modern Human Resources was midwifed by antidiscrimination laws. These regulations opened companies up to huge lawsuits - HR was created to navigate that minefield. Tons of questions like 'How old are you?' and 'Are you married?' cannot even be asked - it's easier to have professional bureaucrats trained to comply with these rules, than a non-HR manager.

[Doctore]

If my experience in hiring is anything to go by, HR also turn down the vast majority of most qualified male candidates too. I had to rescue quite a few for our team from the list of rejected candidates after round 1 (basic screening by HR), who all ended up being our best staff.