"In these professions being attractive was highly detrimental to women," said Professor Stefanie Johnson of the University of Colorado Denver Business School.

"In every other kind of job, attractive women were preferred. This wasn't the case with men which shows that there is still a double standard when it comes to gender."

According to Johnson, beautiful people still enjoy significant benefits on the whole.

They tend to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, higher levels of admission to college, better voter ratings when running for public office, and more favourable judgements in trials.

But in certain niches, beauty can be a hindrance -- something researchers have called the 'beauty is beastly' effect.

"In two studies, we found that attractiveness is beneficial for men and women applying for most jobs, in terms of ratings of employment suitability," according to the study.

"However, attractiveness was more beneficial for women applying for feminine sex-typed jobs than masculine sex-typed jobs."

In one experiment, participants were given a list of jobs and photos of applicants and told to sort them according to their suitability for the job.

They had a stack of 55 male and 55 female photos.

In job categories such as director of security, hardware salesperson, prison guard and tow truck driver, attractive women were overlooked.

Attractive women tended to be sorted into positions like receptionist or secretary.

"One could argue that, under certain conditions, physical appearance may be a legitimate basis for hiring," Professor Johnson said.

"In jobs involving face-to-face client contact, such as sales, more physically attractive applicants could conceivably perform better than those who are less attractive."

"However it is important that if physical attractiveness is weighed equally for men and women to avoid discrimination against women."