Preparing for a Job Interview.
It seems quite trendy these days to dress down and many organisations dedicate Fridays when workers can wear casual clothes. This is all very well once you are in employment but I suggest you take a different tack when applying for a job.
Most employers will make an instant analysis of you, not based on your CV but on your appearance as you walk in to the interview room. It may be superficial. It may be irrelevant to the skills you would bring to the job. It may be perceived by you as tiresome but you must remember that you are the prospective employee. As such you have no say and the employer holds all the cards, in particular to your future.
In effect you should view your personal presentation much like you do when house hunting. I know many realtors and estate agents who endorse the view that the outside appearance of the house is critical to the would-be house purchaser.
You don't even have to be house hunting in order for me to illustrate my point. Driving through a particular area or neighbourhood to visit friends, one particular house always has a very attractive garden. It is always neat and planted with highly coloured plants and shrubs. Colourful hanging baskets cascading nearly to the ground adorn the porch and walls of the house. The surrounding houses appear lacklustre and dowdy in comparison with unruly lawns and bare borders. They barely warrant a glance as I drive past them. If I was looking to purchase a house in that area and there were two on the market; the one with the maintained garden and one with an unkempt garden, no prizes for guessing which one I want to view. It may be superficial but I imagine that the one with the well-kept garden will also have an interior to match. I am attracted to that house to the detriment of the neighbouring one although I do not know how well kept the interior of the latter is. I make assumptions which may or may not be fair or founded in fact. The point is that I make the assumption at all.
Taking the analogy to your job interview, you will want to be viewed as the house with the meticulously kept garden. A pleasing, tidy, clean cut image will encourage the interviewers to enquire more about you. They will take the view that you automatically have more to offer and wish to engage with you. By taking time with your appearance they will deduce that you have shown them respect and that you will take time the same and care with your work. Turning up in a dishevelled and unkempt manner or in inappropriate clothing no matter how smart, will set the interview in a negative manner. It will be an uphill struggle for you to engage the interviewers no matter how qualified and suitable you are for the position. If you cannot be bothered to dress appropriately then why should the interviewers afford you any of their time?
So for the sake of a little attention to detail about your appearance you may squander a job opportunity. Take care with your appearance and give yourself a fighting chance of being offered that all important job.
It seems quite trendy these days to dress down and many organisations dedicate Fridays when workers can wear casual clothes. This is all very well once you are in employment but I suggest you take a different tack when applying for a job.
Most employers will make an instant analysis of you, not based on your CV but on your appearance as you walk in to the interview room. It may be superficial. It may be irrelevant to the skills you would bring to the job. It may be perceived by you as tiresome but you must remember that you are the prospective employee. As such you have no say and the employer holds all the cards, in particular to your future.
In effect you should view your personal presentation much like you do when house hunting. I know many realtors and estate agents who endorse the view that the outside appearance of the house is critical to the would-be house purchaser.
You don't even have to be house hunting in order for me to illustrate my point. Driving through a particular area or neighbourhood to visit friends, one particular house always has a very attractive garden. It is always neat and planted with highly coloured plants and shrubs. Colourful hanging baskets cascading nearly to the ground adorn the porch and walls of the house. The surrounding houses appear lacklustre and dowdy in comparison with unruly lawns and bare borders. They barely warrant a glance as I drive past them. If I was looking to purchase a house in that area and there were two on the market; the one with the maintained garden and one with an unkempt garden, no prizes for guessing which one I want to view. It may be superficial but I imagine that the one with the well-kept garden will also have an interior to match. I am attracted to that house to the detriment of the neighbouring one although I do not know how well kept the interior of the latter is. I make assumptions which may or may not be fair or founded in fact. The point is that I make the assumption at all.
Taking the analogy to your job interview, you will want to be viewed as the house with the meticulously kept garden. A pleasing, tidy, clean cut image will encourage the interviewers to enquire more about you. They will take the view that you automatically have more to offer and wish to engage with you. By taking time with your appearance they will deduce that you have shown them respect and that you will take time the same and care with your work. Turning up in a dishevelled and unkempt manner or in inappropriate clothing no matter how smart, will set the interview in a negative manner. It will be an uphill struggle for you to engage the interviewers no matter how qualified and suitable you are for the position. If you cannot be bothered to dress appropriately then why should the interviewers afford you any of their time?
So for the sake of a little attention to detail about your appearance you may squander a job opportunity. Take care with your appearance and give yourself a fighting chance of being offered that all important job.
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