Good Impressions

UK clothes store TK Maxx recently surveyed around 2000 employers regarding how the attire one wears to a job interview can determine their success in landing a job. According to the survey, women who turn up to interviews with too much cleavage showing can spoil their chances, while men who turn up wearing rumpled shirts, high-waisted pants and novelty ties can ruin theirs.
Also, if more than one candidate is being seriously considered for the job, the better dressed one usually comes out on top. TK Maxx concluded that you should play it safe in terms of your clothes and appearance. That means wearing well-fitting, well-ironed clothes in neutral colours as well as a clean, well-groomed appearance.

Clearly, first impressions matter. So to any woman out there who is thinking of showing up to the interview looking sexy and sassy and trying to shamelessly flirt with the interviewer, don't do it. Assuming that your interviewer is some kind of sleaze is not the ideal thing to do. Likewise boys, interviewers will not be impressed by a guy who looks as though he'd just slept off a bender, forgot to shave and dressed like a kindergarten teacher with the rumpled shirt and cartoon tie. Why do I care? It's because I've made the same mistake in the past. Six years ago, hen I was an unemployed 19-year old looking for work I got an email from a potential employer stating that I didn't get the job I applied for. Fair enough, it happens, especially since I was young and didn't have much work experience. But in this instance, I felt that the real reason I got the chop was due to my appearance.

The year was 2004. I applied for a job with a big company with the city (I'll keep them anonymous for this blog). Before the interview process the employers decided they wanted to host an orientation day to get to know all the interested applicants. Let me tell you, the outfit I wore could not have been more dreadful. I wore a slightly-rumpled shirt that looked at least two sizes too big for my then-skinny frame, I wore high-waisted trousers that might as well have gone up to my nipples and stumpy shoes that Mickey Mouse would've been proud of. Also, I didn't bother to fix my hair up that much and so it looked all fuzzy. In other words, I looked like a cartoon character, and cartoon characters do not a successful applicant make. Ugh! I get red-faced just remembering it. Anyway, a few days later I got an e-mail simply titled 'Sorry'. Obviously I didn't get the job.

In my defence, I was a short, skinny 19-year old with limited work experience and I tried too hard to make a good first impression. Obviously, it didn't work and that right there is what TK Maxx is talking about. I was a defeated man the moment I picked my outfit and in a room full of impeccably-dressed folks I stuck out like a sore thumb. I'm surprised no one laughed at me. I should've known just how badly I'd blown my chances when I came home and my sister asked me what the hell was I doing leaving the house looking the way I did.

Well, I've got a job now but I still cringe when I think back to that day. Missing out on an interview is not what still bothers me, rather it's the fact that I showed up looking like a doofus. I guess it's one of those 'what the hell was I thinking' moments for me. But you know what? I know now that it's better to be rejected at a job interview dressed at your best than have to be turned down looking like a Nickelodeon cartoon character.