Dress for the Job You Want

Everyone knows more than one person who doesn’t care how they look, and don’t worry what people’s perceptions of them are. The one who dresses down, or inappropriately, and justifies it in private expecting employers to look beyond and focus on what they do, not how they look. They like to point to Steve Jobs and his black turtle and jeans and say “look - Steve doesn’t wear a suit!”

OK, but he wears a very nice turtle. He has very nice jeans. He trims his beard and has a nice hair cut. In business you give impressions, like it or not. If you dress down when expectations are otherwise you are raising a big flag that says “not a team player.” You are also putting yourself first, when in reality you must put the customer first. If you are trying to advance your career you are just shooting yourself in the foot.

Perhaps there are some very liberal employers out there, but chances are that if you think yours in one of them - you are wrong! People are forming opinions behind your back and not sharing them with you. Leaders are doing you a disservice by not addressing it with you for fear of upsetting you.

Your goal if you are reading this site is quite likely to advance your career. You are trying to sell yourself professionally to someone - your superior, another firm, or a client. Accept that people form impressions, even if you disagree with them. Try this instead - dress for the job you want.

When people look around the office for the up and comer they are really looking for the person who already looks like they can handle a job. You probably haven’t done all the things they are looking for yet, so for the easy things you want to make it simple for those making decisions. If you “look” the part you have a leg up on your competition. If you “look” like a person I want to do business with I will look a little closer. Rightly or wrongly, if you don’t look the part, I will probably not give you any more notice.

You are not trying to win a fashion competition though. You do not want to look like you belong on the Board if you have yet to supervise a single person - frankly people will wonder about your ability to budget and allocate resources! You aren’t trying to overtly “one up” people. You are simply trying to look the part and make it clear that you belong on the next rung of the ladder. If everyone walks around all day in shirt and tie - make sure your tie is crisp, your shirt matches, and often even if it isn’t called for - put on a jacket. It does not mean that if your buddy wears Land’s End you need to go Armani. But if your buddy closes the catalogue after shirts - do a little browsing in the jacket department too. Ladies, I’m afraid I’d be making a mistake to try and find a similar comparison, but I trust you can interpret this advice in a similar way.

Set A Goal: Every day next week dress a little beyond where you do today. Put on a jacket, wear a suit. Whatever the standard in your office, exceed it a little.

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