Study authors Carl Senior and Michael J.R. Butler of Aston University in Birmingham found that female interviewers were found to allocate attractive looking male interviewees more high status job packages than average looking men.

Average looking men also received lower status job packages than average looking women. Male interviewers did not differ in the number of high or low status job packages that were given to attractive looking interviewees of either sex, though the male interviewers gave out more low status job packages overall, irrespective of the sex of the interviewee, the researchers found.

"When someone is viewed as attractive, they are often assumed to have a number of positive social traits and greater intelligence," the researchers said in a statement. "This is known as the 'halo effect' and it has previously been shown to affect the outcome of job interviews."

The findings are published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.