New Research Suggests Having Higher Testosterone Levels May Help You Land a Job
If you’re looking for a new job, a new study suggests that your testosterone levels may be almost as important as your resume and references. A new study in the journal Economics & Human Biology suggests that higher testosterone levels can help men land a job. And keep it.
Testosterone is a driving force behind vital skills like mood, motivation, personality, and communication, noted the study authors.
The study surveyed over 2,000 unemployed British men between the ages of 25 and 64. Researchers measured the men’s testosterone levels over a period of two years, as well as their employment status, including whether out of work men found jobs and whether employed men stayed in work.
The data showed that men with higher testosterone were at an advantage of gaining employment, as well as retaining their current job or even future jobs. Even men with medium levels of testosterone were able to find employment at a significant rate over those with low T levels.
What’s the Link?
Lead study author Peter Eibich, the deputy head of the Research Group on Labor Demography at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, told PsyPost that the connection is unclear but the connection could be tied to confidence levels, noting “…men with higher testosterone levels are more confident and reported that they were more likely to use the Internet for their job search.”
“Previous research shows quite clearly that testosterone levels are related to certain personality traits (e.g., risk aversion) and individual behavior (e.g., status-seeking and dominant behavior). Such personality traits and behavior have been previously linked to an individual’s success in the labor market,” said Eibich in a statement on Monday.
Higher levels of testosterone also promote what is seen as “prosocial” behavior, according to one study, meaning men with higher T are more likely to communicate effectively and cooperate better in a team setting. All things on your resume that you could actually put to action.
This study only showed a link between testosterone levels and employment; it didn’t prove that low T has doomed your job search efforts.
Eibich also noted that the data only includes testosterone measured at a single point, and testosterone levels fluctuate. “We compensate for this to some extent by using genetic data to isolate variation in testosterone levels that is caused by differences in genetic expressions (and thus constant across the life course). However, further research using data on multiple measurements of testosterone levels for the same individuals would be helpful to gain a sense of how much testosterone levels fluctuate over time for one person.”
