Don't choose the burger if you want to get the job 

If you have a job interview over lunch, what you choose from the menu could affect your chances of being hired. Research shows that eating a healthier meal, such as chicken salad, rather than fast-food, such as a hamburger, will make you look more employable. 

This, scientists believe, is because healthy food gives an impression of seriousness and dedication whereas junk meals make people appear more fun and less rigid about rules – attributes which are not usually sought by employers. 

"What people eat in different situations can give very different impressions," said Professor Kim Mooney of St Lawrence University in New York. "It appears that judgements of attractiveness, morality and behaviour are made on the goodness or badness of food depending on the situation. The research shows that in the formality of a job interview the healthier food people eat the better impression it gives as someone appears to be taking their health and fitness and therefore life more seriously. Although the research shows it doesn't matter how much they eat," she said. 

Researchers asked 100 people to give their impression of a woman who ate two different types of lunch, a chicken salad sandwich and an orange, or burgers, chips and an ice-cream sundae, in two different scenarios. The first was when she was meeting an old friend and the second on a job interview. 

The greatest variation was found among men who said that the chance of getting a job over a burger and chips lunch was only 59 per cent compared with 74 per cent if the interviewee ate chicken salad. Female interviewers did not show the same disapproval of eating the unhealthy option and judged the woman's job prospects as the same regardless of her choice of food. 

Professor Mooney said the research showed that the choice of food could make a difference to the job prospects of interviewees if they were being interviewed by a man. 

"Men appear to have a more traditional attitude towards food, and make social judgements based on it particularly when dealing with women," she said. 

The Independent: 8 June 2000