A beard can blight your career prospects according to a
survey of UK businessmen.
The fifth annual Aziz Management Communications Index
reveals that a third of clean-shaven company directors and 17 per cent of
bearded directors believe there is a prejudice against men with beards in
business.
Only four per cent of all directors think having a beard is
an advantage in business and almost 40 per cent of directors believe beards can
appear untidy.
The survey also shows that businessmen with beards are more
likely to put their domestic lives before their business career than their
clean-shaven colleagues.
Khalid Aziz, chairman of the Aziz Corporation, commented, “A
significant proportion of UK businessmen believe that people with beards are at
a disadvantage in business. These percentages may be minority but they are
large minorities and they represent the people prepared to admit to views,
which are not politically correct. Even if these are the only people who hold
these prejudices, having a third of your potential customers see you as untidy
should cause any businessman serious concern.”
The Aziz Corporation’s survey included responses from 200 directors
across the UK.
By Ben Willmott
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