<p>People form impressions and exhibit biases towards others based on skin tone. This research aimed to test whether there is a bias in mind perception (agency, experience; Gray et al., 2007) towards targets with different skin tones and explored its possible mechanism as well as its downstream consequence. In Study 1, Korean participants perceived lighter-(vs. darker) skinned Korean targets as having higher agency (but not experience). This relationship was mediated by perceived socioeconomic status (SES): lighter-(vs. darker-)skinned Korean targets were perceived as having higher SES, which was in turn associated with higher perceived agency. Study 2 examined a real-world implication of these findings regarding perceived occupational suitedness. Higher perceived agency of lighter-(vs. darker-)skinned Korean targets was associated with higher suitedness for occupations requiring high agency. These findings suggest that skin tone–based differences in mind perception could have important implications in the hiring context.</p>