If your face looks like this, it can completely undermine your career success

Though we live in a youth-obsessed culture, turns out in the career field the gift of youth or rather just looking young can actually hinder your success. 
Young, cherubic faces without a wrinkle in sight are what funds the billion-dollar plastic surgery industry. However, having a babyface at work actually makes people underestimate your competency according to a research theory.

The “baby-face overgeneralization effect“

George Bernard Shaw famously said, “Youth is wasted on the young” but what he didn’t say was looking youthful can be a career hindrance.

Coined in the 1980s by Dr. Leslie Zebrowitz, there is something called the “baby-face overgeneralization effect.” Basically, when people see a face that has infant-like characteristics they associate childlike traits with that person.  “More baby-faced people are seen as physically weaker, more submissive, naïve,” she said in an interview. Weaker, submissive, and naïve are not words you want to be associated with your work style.

In an article for BBC Work Life author Zaria Gorvett cites multiple studies that find that most CEOs of Fortune 500 companies tend to have more dominant facial features (the opposite of babyface features in this context) than people who are professors.

This means people with more mature faces are perceived to have better leadership skills than someone who resembles a Cabbage Patch Kid. But it should be noted that facial features did not impact the performance of the company.

Though we have heard some horrible incidences of ageism against older people, young people are often receiving treatment based on their birthday as well. In a 2019 Glassdoor diversity and inclusion survey conducted in the U.S., UK, France, and Germany over 50% of employees ages 18-34  were more likely than their older colleagues (55 and up) to experience or see age discrimination at work.

Stature plays a part too

Of course, it isn’t just faces that influence what people think. Stature plays a huge role as well. A study from 1995 found that attractive women and tall men held higher-ranked jobs in military and civilian jobs, while babyfaced women and short men received jobs that weren’t as well regarded.

There have been many studies on the correlation between height and salary including this one from Australia that found that with each additional four inches of height the subject saw a 3% increase in hourly wages.

Dr. Joan Harvey, psychologist and senior lecturer at Newcastle University, told Refinery 29 that so much of what we think of people’s skills and competency is based on their looks and actions. “It’s what we in psychology call interpersonal perception. Whether you like it or not, you’re communicating with people on every level. And lots of cultures place a respect value on age, so if they think you’re older, they’ll respect you more.”

Attractive faces still dominate

On the plus side though a younger-looking face is usually perceived as more attractive (just ask any of the Real Housewives.)  The “beauty premium,” which shows a positive correlation between attractive people and higher earnings, has been documented widely by economists

Researchers Satoshi Kanazawa and Mary Still who studied the “beauty premium” believe that the reason attractive people earn more is not just because of their looks but what their looks signify. “Physically more attractive workers may earn more, not necessarily because they are more beautiful, but because they are healthier, more intelligent, and have better personality traits conducive to higher earnings, such as being more conscientious, more extraverted, and less neurotic,” Kanazawa said in a press release.

If you have a youthful face you should embrace it (because it may not last forever) but at work do remind your colleagues and boss that you get carded all the time.