[kstenerud]

It's likely we're seeing some vestiges of evolutionary psychology (an attractive female as a threat to other females) that are subconsciously affecting judgment in an area that, though no threat actually exists, is recent enough in our evolutionary history that we're as yet maladapted to it. In this case, it's not so much jealousy as protecting one's turf.

In fact, I'd expect that the exact opposite occurs when the HR person is male: Prefer attractive females, and discriminate against good/successful looking males. It would be interesting to see a study that recorded in each case the gender of the HR person.

We like to think of ourselves as completely objective, but we never are.