Boosting Your Professional Presence – Is Your Look a Job Search Blocker?

Do you know someone whose own personal blinders are the biggest detriment to landing a job?  It’s a blunt statement, but we all know people who are their own worst enemy in a search.

I receive the occasional note from wearied job hunters, asking why their search is taking so long, why nothing is turning up for them in the job market.  I don’t personally know them, so I wonder – is the reason perhaps their lack of appropriate attire and style?   When I’m presenting resume seminars and attending networking events for job hunters, I meet a variety of job seekers who say they are “stuck.” 

Between us, for a handful of these job searchers I meet, it’s no surprise.  Some are a downright shipwreck.  A percentage of job seekers fail to present themselves in the most professional way.  For these folks, I want to say, “what are you thinking?  It’s clear as day why you aren’t generating a lot of interest in the marketplace – you aren’t ready for prime time, your image leaves colleagues cold who might otherwise be enthusiastic referrers, and you could easily do something to change that.”

Losing a job is out of someone’s control.  But looking sharper is achievable by everyone, and is a transformation anyone can own.  It’s a shame that being oblivious to a professional appearance escapes these good, hardworking folks anxious to support their families and make a living, because it’s a showstopper for them as a candidate.

The overwhelming majority of job seekers present themselves very nicely.  My advice is for the 5% who I wish would have the courage to ask someone, “is it me?  I am open to honest feedback because my landing a job is more important than living in my own comfortable bubble.  I’ve been told my skills and experience are solid, and that my resume presents my story well.  What gives?”  Below are some observations from years of helping job searchers.

1. Job hunting is exactly like dating.  Think about it.  You are trying to land a date with someone who has 200 other hopefuls lined up to earn that same “yes, I’ll hire you” phone call.  And you’re not willing to turn it up a notch?  You never think, “I wonder if I could look a little cuter?”  You grab orthopedic-looking shoes and that shapeless sweater vest and don’t wear makeup because of some interesting notion of “the world must accept me just the way I am, because only my inner beauty counts” to try and land a date with George Clooney?  I don’t think so. 

2. A sharp-looking package on the store shelf sells more product than a shabby, disheveled, frumpy one.  It’s no different in selling yourself.  I look at these oblivious folks and say “there is not a shred of mystery why you haven’t impressed the hiring manager.”  Employers want candidates that would be a positive representation of their company to customers, the public, and heck, even the competition.  Hiring managers seek the sharpest and most business-focused team they can find, and in this challenging economy, the competition is fierce.   You are competing with hundreds of other job seekers in a market overflowing with candidates.  Shouldn’t finding a job be more important than being stubbornly unwilling to look like the product a company wants to hire or meet a customer?  The job search isn’t about a candidate – it’s about what an employer wants, and what their standards are. 

And when I say sharp-looking, I’m not saying beautiful, I’m not saying young, I’m not saying thin, I’m not saying pricey wardrobe.  I’m just saying put together – a suit with a jacket, tidy and conservative shoes, minimal jewelry, nice hair style, and for women, makeup.

3. Ladies:  Boost the style, but ditch the singles bar look.  Please use makeup, please have your hair professionally colored and styled even if it’s the first time in your life you’ve walked into a salon.  You can do this!  The frumpy, dull brillo-pad hair, the tress-mess that might have hay in it, the argyle and plaid, the corduroy, the crocheted handbags or the purses so large a golden retriever could climb inside - lose them for your interviews.  For interviews and for work, keep jewelry minimal (not uninteresting, just minimal).  A multitude of chains, necklaces and rings along with dramatic, big hoopy/dangly earrings don’t put a candidate in the best light.  Wear all you want on the weekend, but for interviews or work, fewer rings, more conservative earrings and jewelry sets (one matching necklace and bracelet) are the smart choice. 

On the other end of the spectrum, the too-revealing necklines and hemlines, and dramatic 5-inch heels, label someone as tacky, a distraction and entirely nonprofessional to a hiring manager, so tone it down.  Every female business, civic and nonprofit leader you’ve seen in the paper or on TV, have followed these rules.  And sorry, but every one of them is wearing hose, and you should too when you wear a skirt or dress (unless it is 100 degrees outside on the day you interview).  You are not interviewing for a bank CEO job, but you need to show you can dress to impress.  And the CEO is not wearing air hose, trust me, unless they own a sandal factory.  Your attire, every day, shows the respect you have for your boss, employer, clients, customers and patrons, and your interview is your only chance to prove you can meet or exceed that expectation.   See my earlier blog, article for a list of fashion don’ts in the workplace.

4. Men:  Hair and Shoes!  Shave the tufts of disgusting fur patches off your neck (are you a respected professional, or a lumberjack?) as they make you look low-brow and Neanderthal.  In a room of 50 male job hunters, at least 10 of them fail to remove the messy carpet from their neck.  Please have all random explosions of ear and nostril and 2-inch eyebrow strands obliterated at a barber, and while you are there, the extreme 8-inch comb-over needs to go.  For any interview, avoid button-up vests, and the dreaded corduroy.   

Shoes count more than you realize.  Showing up for a job interview in footwear more appropriate for tire shopping or camping simply because “it’s what I’m comfortable in” is not going to win you the job - or the date with Jennifer Aniston, either.  Oxfords or dress loafers are the rule of the day.  Don’t overlook square-toed leather loafers as a professional look; they are no longer just for the under-35 crowd.  Do not be the guy so proud of his 2-for-$15 pleather loafers from WalMart that you win the battle (cheapness) and lose the war (making a good impression on . . . anyone).  Deals are great – but save the $7 pleather shoes for weekend errands, not job interviewing. 

Tidy nails matter – too much dead white skin and shaggy cuticles and it looks like you’re a noodler from “Hillbilly Handfishin’” and not ever in an office where a customer shakes your hand.  Remember, during interviews everyone is looking at your hands as you present your resume, meet interviewers, take notes, and drink that ever-present glass of water they gave you.  Unless you are trying to land a job as a hunting camp guide, your wife, girlfriend, daughter, sister or mom can show you tools to get rid of the rock-like dead skin that is lurking around your nails. 

5. Hourly and line positions.  When applying for hourly, manufacturing, part time retail or clerk type positions, you aren’t expected to wear a power suit.  For men, it’s a dress shirt and dark slacks; for women, the same (or a nice sweater set) with a skirt or dress slacks.  For both, the same rule for tidy, conservative shoes.  I think a great solution for winter interviews is a plain or small-check/stripe good-quality dress shirt with a solid-color long sleeve knit pullover (not a chunky, baggy sweater someone’s great aunt made).  That clean-cut look that you’d wear to church or temple, or to apply for a bank loan, is the outfit you want for an interview. 

If someone is getting interviews, but never progressing beyond the first round, I hope they would take a minute or two to size up their professional presence.  Start being more attentive to what successful and admired professionals are wearing . . . and be a copycat of that look for future interviews or networking events.  It’s all up to you – don’t be the only person standing in the way of presenting a more compelling candidate profile.

Kelly Blazek shares job search and work success tips from the corporate front lines in her blog, http://kellyblazek.wordpress.com.  She is available for presentations to groups on job searching, and also one-on-one resume review consultations for job seekers.