Who is getting the job?

Someone's physical appearance really shouldn't matter overall. But a 2009 study found that people do judge personality based on appearance alone. Participants in the study were shown over 100 photographs of people they didn't know. Some photographs showed people in a controlled pose with a neutral expression, while others were in a naturally expressive pose like smiling. Even when the photographs had someone in a controlled pose, participants were able to accurately judge them for some major personality traits. But when the person in the photo was in a natural pose, participants were able to accurately judge them for nine out of 10 major traits including extraversion, openness, likability, and loneliness.

The important thing to remember here is that people will judge you regardless of what you do. You can't really control how they perceive you. The only thing you can control is yourself. These are just some small things consider — it's totally up to you whether you choose to make changes or stay exactly as you are.

Studies referenced:

Williams, E. and Bargh, A. (2008) Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth. Science. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/suppl/2008/10/23/322.5901.606.DC1/Williams.SOM.pdf

Newman, L.S., Mingxuan, Tan, & Caldwell, T.L. (2018) Name Norms: A Guide to Casting Your Next Experiment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0146167218769858?journalCode=pspc

Uusberg, H., Allik, J., & Hietanen, J.K. (2015). Eye contact reveals a relationship between Neuroticism and anterior EEG asymmetry. Neuropsychologia. 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2015.05.008

Wood, D., Harms, P., & Vazire, S. (2010) What you say about others says a lot about you. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100802165441.htm

Ryan M. Stolier, R.M, Hehman, E., Keller, M.D., Walker, M, & Freeman, J.B. (2018) The conceptual structure of face impressions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 10.1073/pnas.1807222115

Cristina Baus, C., McAleer, P., Marcoux, K., Belin, P., and Costa, A. (2019) Forming social impressions from voices in native and foreign languages. Scientific Reports 10.1038/s41598-018-36518-6

Naumann, L. and Gosling, S. (2009) First Impressions Count When Making Personality Judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091103112253.htm

Experts

Kellie Zeigler, certified applied positive psychology practitioner

Jacob Brown, psychotherapist

Elizabeth Irias, LMFT, president and founder of Clearly Clinical

Diana Venckunaite, certified life and relationship coach

Tzlil Hertzberg, mental health counselor at MyTherapist New York