Young-Looking Employees Face Advantages, Disadvantages

In the American culture youthfulness is perplexing in nature in that while it is highly glamorized, it is comparably despised. Evidence of its glamorization emerges through advertisements for makeup that disguises wrinkles and crow's feet, hair color to cover gray hairs, and Botox injections to smooth fine facial lines. Yet, an adult who genetically has a baby face will acknowledge that the grass isn't always greener on the other side. Having a youthful appearance is accompanied by both disadvantages and advantages as reviewed below.

Disadvantages of Having a Youthful Appearance

Many adults who have baby faces encounter opposition particularly in their professional lives. Common negative reactions from colleagues that young-looking employees experience involve views of the employee as inexperienced, not relatable, or a threat.

Inexperienced - The view and treatment of a young-looking employee as inexperienced commonly arises despite the employee's record of impressive education and skills. This stereotype, often held by senior-level employees that have been with the company for a long time, is present either during a job interview or after a job-placement. Because they are misjudged before getting a chance to prove themselves, young-looking employees often feel under-challenged and unappreciated.

Not Relatable - Many senior-level employees constantly mistake the ages of employees with youthful appearances as that of a high-school student or of their own children who are actually a lot younger than the employee. When the senior-level employees are not accustomed to colleagues in the workplace with younger facial features, the latter are viewed as not relatable, which creates feelings of resentment or isolation.

A Threat - It is not uncommon for senior employees who are in positions of authority to talk down to employees with youthful appearances. An example is an elderly security guard who reprehends a young-looking employee for breaking a "rule" that is often blown out of proportion. It is as though the employee with a baby face has arrived from another planet and does not speak the same language.

All of these negative views and reactions toward young-looking employees results in the pressure for the latter to compromise. Extra efforts are made in order to be taken seriously which include adopting more assertive and persistent behavior along with raising one's professional dress a notch up to achieve a respectable image.

Advantages of Having a Youthful Appearance

In the midst of the trials that young-looking adults experience lies a rainbow. The findings from a 2001 Danish study recently revealed in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) that a baby face signifies longevity. The subjects of the study were 1,800 pairs of twins over the age of 70, wherein the younger looking of the twins had the tendency to outlive the others in spite of environmental factors. This significant revelation enlightens adults with youthful appearances that the advantage of youth is far more than a physical appeal to the eye. Behind a baby face lies survival.