Dressing for Success Really Matters
Carolyn, an HR professional with a Honda subsidiary in Marysville, OH shared with me that she once had
a job candidate show up dressed very casually and wearing a baseball cap. When the interview started, the candidate leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on her desk!
All I can say to this is, ¡°Boy, were you born in the wild and raised by a pack of wolves?¡± I¡¯m pretty sure you weren¡¯t or we would have heard about you on the evening news. What were you thinking?
When you¡¯re lucky enough to be called for an interview, it means something made a good impression¡ªeither your application or your r¨¦sum¨¦, depending on the job. Here¡¯s a gentle reminder: being called for an interview is not the same as being guaranteed the job. In the first interview (and possibly the second, third and even fourth), you¡¯re still selling yourself to the hiring company. So, how should you dress?
The best advice is to always dress professionally. However, not only is professional dress subjective, in some cases it¡¯s also more than you need. To help you determine what you should wear to your interview(s), read on.
• If you¡¯re a guy, you probably have your own House of Fashion brewing just under the surface of your life. Do you have a wife, girlfriend, sister, mother or female friend? Among all of these, you¡¯ll find at least one (probably more) person who can offer sound, reasonable advice on appropriate dressing for various occasions. I would recommend checking with your wife, girlfriend or mother (in that order) before moving to the other options.
• If you¡¯re a woman, you have the same options. You also have multiple reality shows and magazines that obsess over these various subjects. Get together with a group of your friends, a bottle (or two) of wine and a stack of magazines and team up to define your look. Take bits and pieces from each magazine and then have a ¡°What Not to Wear¡± shopping and modeling weekend. If you walk away with a couple of professional outfits, you¡¯re further ahead.
• Check with your local department store. Oftentimes they retain one or two associates dedicated to personal shopping and styling. If you¡¯re in central Ohio, both Macys and Nordstrom offer this service. Nordstrom has two personal shoppers on staff¡ªone male and one female. Some personal shoppers allow you to bring in wardrobe pieces you already own (and adore) and help you build from there.
• Call the hiring manager at the company where you¡¯re getting ready to interview. HR professionals will gladly help you decipher the dressing dilemma. After all, they have a little bit invested in you at this point (they selected your resume for review by others, thereby putting their initial stamp of approval on you (at least on the paper representation of you).
• Drive by the company (OK, stalk it a little) and observe how the employees are dressed and then plan on dressing one step better (unless you¡¯re going for a management position, then wear a suit).
All of this to say that no matter how much we¡¯ve become business casual in the workplace, the interview is not the time to embrace the concept. First impressions still matter and still weigh heavily in the start of any relationship.