Is it obvious to you that looks play a role in who's hired?

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I've been going on a job hunting frenzy. A public restaurant I went inside of today, I asked for application. She said they weren't hiring and out of applications. I go sit to eat anyway. I look around and notice all the women that worked there had the same body types. Not skinny, not obese but not really medium either. Two of the women looked like the could be sisters.

I walk into another place. Fast food (not looking for a job just picking up stuff) and noticed only skinny people.

All bars I've been into has only blonde female bartenders or buff male bartenders.

Have you ever made observations like this?

Looks play a part depending on what the business is, customer contact, and the hiring person or boss's preferences.

At least that's what I've come to believe.

So, YES, I think you are correct.

Obviously, looks play a role. I have noticed that most of the management where I work are over six feet tall, while most of the clerks tend to be short. There are other possible reasons for the correlation, but it is not unlikely that tall people are promoted more quickly because they are seen as "leaders."

There was a Dilbert cartoon a while back where the PHB ask Asok the Intern to go upstairs and give a report to the technology steering committee. Since they are "tall members of senior management" they do not acknowledge his existence except to use him as a footstool.

I was watching The Billionaire Insider on CNBC and Donald Trump was talking about real estate with a studio audience of young real estate professionals. A fairly attractive girl asked a question about working for a big firm. The Donald made a comment that went something like "Oh you look like you'd have no trouble getting a job with them." She blushed as Trump was obviously making a comment on her looks.

I really only notice this in restaurants. It seems like a disproportionate amount of very thin young women choose to work as waitresses at nicer family restaurants. Sometimes I can't really tell them apart. In that case I'm more inclined to believe that heavier people tend to shy away from waitressing for practical reasons. But yes, it's obvious that looks can play a role in securing certain types of employment.

If you don't feel comfortable having to deal with a dress code or demand for a certain look, then I would recommend to choose a less public job. Customer service, secretary work, maybe something in IT ... as long as you have no direct contact with the customers, employers will generally turn a blind eye to how you prefer to dress or look. That is the trick I did anyway: avoid places that require direct eye contact with the customer. Although even in pubs and such I have often seen people that do not fit the stereotype of the average bartender, so it all comes down to a bit of luck in finding the right employer. Non-public jobs are obviously easier when you look non-mainstream but even in some public places they don't really care about how you look. I have been in plenty of pubs where the waiters and waitresses did not look like the everyday pub worker.

I remember Virgin Airlines getting in trouble here a while ago because they would only hire attractive women under 30 to be flight attendants.

May not (always) be the hire-er

Bartenders and waitresses work on tips. Pretty gets more tips from customers. They are the ones who make more money at it, while the less attractive see themselves making less money for the same work, get discouraged, and look for other work. That having been said, if the boss knows a good portion of the frequent customers like to look at the pretty waitresses (or whatever type of employee), they're (unofficially) going to try to hire pretty waitresses (without getting caught).

Just thought I'd mention that I intentionally never tip waitresses if they are pretty.

A long time ago, stewardesses on airlines had to look pretty. Now, a lot of the Asian airlines require pretty stewardesses (like Singapore Airlines). Most of the stewards and stewardesses on US based airlines aren't all that much to look at, and there isn't as much for them to do any more. No more airplane meals.