Leadership

Odd Interview Advice: Don't Hire Women Who Smile Too Much

By Jessica Stillman

Updated on: May 12, 2009 / 5:33 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

The Find: Of all the quirky advice on hiring out there, successful business blogger Penelope Trunk may have some of the oddest: don't hire women who smile too much.
The Source: Trunk's Brazen Careerist blog.

The Source: Some people advocate panel interviews, others warn against the excessive use of referrals, but recently Trunk weighed in with perhaps the least expected piece of hiring advice in the business blogosphere: avoid hiring women who smile too much. She asserts:

Choose women who are happy, but they shouldn't smile too easily. This is hard for men to do. Because men are hard-wired to be drawn to women who laugh at their jokes. Men want to be funny. But women who are slower to smile do better at work, according to communications consultant Neil Lowndes.

There are several reasons to be suspicious of this advice, not least of which is the fact Trunk got her source's name wrong. Rather than Neil, the consultant cited is Leil Lowndes â€" a female autho r and motivational speaker. Plus there's the obvious but unaddressed issue of whether female hiring managers should be suspicious of excessively smiley men, not to mention the other questionable insights in Trunk's post, including that "in stressful work situations, fat people do not think as clearly as thin people." Citing a Stonybrook University School of Medicine study, she explains "the more body fat you have, the higher your levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that hampers cognitive abilities." Hmmm, I imagine there's a number of less than thin but super-competent business people who would like to respond to that claim.

The Question: Are Trunk's tips rubbish or is there a nugget of truth in her advice to avoid hiring people just because they boost our egos?

(Image of woman with smile sign by [heart]serendipity, CC 2.0)