When applying for jobs most of us tend to err on the side of caution and use photos in which we are modestly dressed but, according to the experts, the opposite approach actually works better for women.

According to The Independent, a new French study has found – rather depressingly – that covering up can actually hinder a woman’s chance of bagging her job of their dreams.

For three years Dr Sevag Kertechian used the CVs of two women who were similar in looks, skills and experience to apply for jobs in sales and accounting.

The main difference between the two applications was the attached photos.

The results showed that the woman wearing a low-cut dress in her CV photograph was asked to 62 more interviews from 200 sales job applications than the woman whose outfit was less revealing.

A similar result was found for accounting applications with 68 more call-backs being given to whoever wore the low-cut dress.

In the interest of fairness, half of each woman’s applications featured her with a low cut neckline, while the other half showed her in a round neck.

Speaking at the Appearance Matters conference, Dr Kertechian said: “Our results showed interesting trends as low-cut dresses significantly influenced the choice of the recruiters, even for accounting positions.”

"Regardless of the job, whether customer-facing saleswoman or office-based accountant the candidate with the low cut clothing received more positive answers.”

“The results were quite shocking and negative but not necessarily surprising.”