Sexy Women Held Back in Hiring Process, Study Finds

Blondes might have more fun, but unattractive women make it in the boardroom, according to a new study Wednesday.

"Plain" women are far more likely to get a job interview than "attractive" ones, Prof. Bradley Ruffle of Israel's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found.

Ruffle ran his experiment in Israel by sending out a slew of resumes, some with photos of attractive or plain people, and some with no photos at all, Live Science reported.

"Among female candidates, no-picture females have the highest response rate, 22 percent higher than plain females and 30 percent higher than attractive females," Ruffle concluded.

"Our findings on penalization of attractive women contradict current psychology and organizational behavior literature on beauty that associate attractiveness, male and female alike, with almost every conceivable positive trait and disposition."

Curiously, for men the experiment turned out different. Attractive men were 50 percent more likely to get called back for an interview than plain men -- and both were more likely to get a response than a resume with no photo.

Ruffle had a controversial explanation for his findings.

"The evidence points to female jealousy of attractive women in the workplace as a primary reason for their penalization in recruitment," he said.

In Israel, it is common for job applicants to send headshots along with their resumes for job openings.