6 WAYS YOUR WEARS/PACKAGING COULD COST YOU YOUR DREAM JOB
with
Moruf Kolawole Nasir
(Experienced HR professional)
nmkolawole@gmail.com; info@jarushub.com
Like man, the corporate world is moved by what it sees, be it in terms of profit projection or prospect of a product/service, which, most often, is hinged on packaging ability; which of course determines the acceptability or otherwise of a product/service or project. This mentality also has its effects on the modus operandi of formal organizations; hence the idea of formal dress code in establishments and certainly on how applicants for positions in a going concern are perceived, thus the idea of FORMAL DRESS CODE for interview.
Unfortunately, most jobseekers miss their chances of leveraging on this when the opportunity arises, and costing them their dream jobs. This sometimes is out of ignorance and at other times circumstantial, yet in other it is the carefree attitude of the applicant. Whatever the reason, it can never be enough to justify the loss such candidates may suffer.
I have put together some of the ways applicants wrongly package themselves for interviews which have cost many their dream jobs.
1. FACIAL WEAR: There is a saying that the most important of all your wears is your facial wear; this is no less true even at job interviews. That informs its inclusion in this list. However, at job interviews, it is just one of the wears that present you well for interviewers’ assessment, not necessarily the best of the wears. Remember the power of first impression, even if the interview starts late (sometimes deliberate), your reaction to such situation will go a long way in helping you win the minds of the panelists, and remember also your first reaction shows when you get called in – that is your facial wear. Unfortunately most job seekers show their annoyance or anger when they are called in for interview, thus ruining their facial wear.
2. YOUR SUIT: Yes your suit. In my many years of interviewing candidates I have seen all manners of suits from applicants. Some are big enough to put interviewers off to the extent that some of them immediately write you off, especially in places where they give huge importance to corporate image; and believe me, most organizations do. Though funny, it is not a crime to wear very large suit to your places of worship or your personal dates, even when the weather is intensely hot (Lol); it only becomes an issue when those funny suits are the only ones you have to package yourself for interview. It should be noted that wearing suit for interview is not a must for all positions (if you don’t have fitted one, get a very nice shirt and tie). Although, not properly suited for some positions will reduce your score on dressing. Wearing oversized or unfitted suits will, on the other hand, presents you to the panelists negatively. It is never a crime to borrow suit from a friend to attend interview, just make sure the suit is FITTED, not expensive.
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3. YOUR TIE: Wearing a tie in itself does not automatically make you formal in your appearance; how you wear it goes a long way in telling if you are formal or not. A tie does two things for you: it either presents you as a gentleman or an unserious person. I don’t know of any company which will like to hire an unserious person. Believe me, all those funny tie styles we see around us, some very short almost like a bow tie turned vertically, and some others long enough to barely go past the chest, are knotted that way by some applicants for interviews. I can’t understand what their understanding of formal meetings is. The panelists will be going too far if they are looking at your patterning combinations, but doing the right combination will make you stand out just as colour riot will be a turn off to anybody.
4. YOUR SHIRT: In one of my recent interviews with four other panelists in a well reputable organization, for the post of Technical Officer, one of the panelists – a senior management staff of the company – had to instruct an interviewee to button up his shirt properly. This is a graduate job (not drivers job) and not one of those unserious companies, yet a graduate, at this stage attended interview without tie and still did not button up properly; yet they complain of not getting jobs. I wonder who will engage such a person? It is obvious packaging makes no meaning to him. This is an extreme case; common cases among applicants are wearing of poorly ironed shirts, oversized shirts, and other kinds of shirts that are better worn to the market place or to hang out with friends, yet they are competing with other applicants who have taken their time to package themselves well for the interview.
5. YOUR BELT & SHOE: Just as I have discussed above, your packaging goes a long way in determining the impression the panelists will form about you, and their impression about you will also affect their grading of your performance. It will be absurd to see an applicant who claims to be CURRENTLY engaged wearing tattered shoe or torn belt. For fresh graduate, it may be understandable, even though that may also jeopardize his chances; for someone who wants to change job, especially a good job, his appearance will go a long way in determining how his claims will be taken seriously. That informs why some experienced job seekers borrow cars to attend some interviews (just to enhance their packaging). Do you now see that how you present yourself for interviews matters?
6. GENERAL APPEARANCE: One thing I have come to realize about how man value things is in the way the things are packaged, if animal excrement could be packaged for man to buy, what would man not ‘buy’ if well packaged. Going for interviews should not only be seen as question and answer session is should be seen as an avenue to ‘sell’ yourself. Package yourself in such a way that you will be liked, and with an above average performance at the questioning session, the liking will spur sentiments in your favour, and that is it. If on the other hand, you did above average and your packaging is zero, it will take the absence of an equally good person with better packaging for you to land the job.
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On a final note, I once conducted interview for a couple of IT Administrators, one of them dressed so shabbily that I almost wrote him off; but as a professional in the job (which most panelists are not) I assessed his expertise, even though I scored him low on dressing. At the end of the interview, he was so lucky that he met most of the requirements for the job, so I gave him the opportunity to scale through to the next stage along with others. The next stage comprised of a team of interviewers. Luckily for him (maybe because of my comment on his dressing) he dressed better to the next stage, and he eventually got the job. But because his packaging was poor, he was not getting the respect he ought to command holding such office because his dress sense presented him as one of lesser grade, so people of his level merely relate with him as though their level is higher than his. And staff junior to him relate with him as if they are on equal level. This shows how far presentation of oneself, if you like call it packaging, can go a long way to telling how one will be treated or accepted. Hence the popular saying “how you are dressed will determine how you will be addressed”.
Always remember “In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn”.
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