Gender, appearance stereotypes and information screening efficiency: Study based on electronic resume screening experiment

Abstract

Aiming at the problem of information interference in the electronic resume screening, under the control of gender, college and major, this paper adopt a method for mixing the photos taken before and after make-up of the same person. We design a resume screening experiment that seniors from human resource management major involved in, which researches how gender difference, screening time and ways of decision-making have an impact on resume screening of recruiters in the real situation that requires a different level of the appearance and ability of applicants. The result shows that the appearance stereotypes actually have an impact on recruiter in the course of screening, the effect degree of which differs in the positions. In the face of applicants for the same position, male recruiters are more affected by appearance stereotypes than female recruiters. Time and the effect of stereotypes are negatively correlated. The group decision could reduce the impact of appearance stereotypes compared with individuals within a limited time. It is suggested that male recruiters take charge of the positions where appearance is not seen as so important, whereas female recruiters are suggested to be in charge of the positions where ability is more emphasized, and its necessary to combine individual decision with group discussion to improve the screening efficiency.