Saturday, April 3, 2010

Footshooting - Dress For The Interview


In my first episode a of “Footshooting” that was posted a couple of weeks ago I talked about “showing up”. It’s difficult to get a job when you don’t show up for the interview. Today I’m going to begin a discussion on showing up right and continue the series for the next few Saturdays.

Usually the first experience the interviewer has with you is your appearance. Being dressed correctly won’t get you the job but it will lose you the job quicker than anything else I can imagine. In the Bible their is a verse in l Samuel 16:7 that says, “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” This idea has often been misinterpreted to mean “how you look either doesn’t matter or shouldn’t matter”.

Of the people that actually showed up to interview with me, a very high percentage disqualified themselves before the interview even began. I knew if they represented themselves this poorly on a job interview, I could never trust them to represent the company well on a sales call.

What different interviewers are looking for may vary from person to person and job to job. There is no one size fits all answer for every interview. If you are interviewing for a job working with your hands, a conservative business suit might be over kill. A construction worker position might dress like the gentleman on the left and look great. (See Image Below)

If you have the opportunity to ask the scheduler or the person who will actually be conducting the interview you might simply ask them what they are looking for. I never had anyone ask me this in all the interviews I scheduled but I would have automatically given someone an advantage had they done so. You could also do some research by calling into or visiting the company in another location.

If you are going to error, do it on the side of overdressing and lean heavily toward the traditional and conservative. Their may be a few job opportunities where creative expressive dress is valued over tradition. Just do your homework.

And one last thought... In reality you are interviewing everyday of your life.  Everyday you show up for work you are interviewing for the promotion.  Many employers are constantly on the look out for new employees.  If you are always dressed sharp and treat people well, you will get opportunities that just walk in the door.

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