A Lesson On Dressing For A Successful Interview

  It's easy enough these days to do the research needed to find out what people in a particular organization or type of organization typically wear to work.

A client who had worked in a small law firm that had a fairly relaxed dress code was pursuing his first role in a big firm. He told me that he spent time in the foyer of the building in which the firm he wanted to work to check out the people going out for lunch (the firm occupied several floors of the building). He noted the kinds of shoes, suits, shirts, ties, haircuts. That way, he already looked like one of them when he arrived for this interview.



But it really is those little things -- like white socks, or a poorly formatted resume, or calling the interviewer by the wrong name, or being a few minutes late -- that usually tip the scale.

Of course, there is a line where you have to say "this is who I am and if it doesn't work here, then neither should I" -- as someone with tattoos, I do not encourage people to pretend to be something they are not in an interview -- after all, you will have to work there every day, and a job where you have to hide your true self is rarely worth it.