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Email this articleClothes, hairstyle factor in promotion
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By Samantha Thompson Smith
All those late nights at the office. All those times you volunteered to lead committees, work weekends, go to conferences. They might help you snag that big promotion.
But those jingle-jangle earrings? The Fu Manchu mustache? Your hairstyle from the late '90s? They could be hurting your chances of getting that corner office.
"You definitely have to put forward your best image," said Cynthia Nellis, a style expert for About.com's women's fashion Web site. "Even if you're allowed to wear jeans and T-shirts to the office, it's not going to project an image to get you promoted. You need to take it a notch above the company policy."
Just look around the office on a Monday morning. You can easily spot the office slob with his coffee-stained tie and wrinkled shirts, or the workplace flasher, the woman who thinks it's OK to show ample cleavage or plenty of leg.
They are the obvious rule-breakers who will have trouble getting ahead.
It's getting worse in summer as workers shed clothes to stay cool, wearing anything from flip-flops to sleeveless shirts to the office.
But it's not just the bad dressers who are judged and often overlooked at promotion time. It's also the woman who wears too much makeup, or too little. Or the guy who wears flip flops and short-sleeve button-down shirts, thinking he's meeting the casual dress code.
"Our image can tell others that we are creative or dependable or conservative or all of those and more," said image consultant Carolyn Gustafson, owner of Image Strategy for Men & Women in Cary, N.C. "We make quick decisions about people based on their appearance. Whether or not that's right, that's the reality of it."
How someone is dressed was the third most important attribute in getting a new job, according to a study by Syracuse University and Total Executive Inc. of 300 executive recruiters, chief executives and directors of personnel. That's behind communication and presentation skills.
Executives surveyed last year by TheLadders.com, a Web site for job seekers looking for six-figure salaries, said employees who dress casually at work seemed more creative and fun. But almost half of the 2,245 executives said those casual dressers risk being taken less seriously.
However, if employees suited up, dressing more traditionally in business suits and skirts, they were more likely to be perceived as being at a more senior level, according to the study (and also as less creative and more rigid.)
It's enough to make you cringe, that something as small as wearing flat shoes instead of heels or your oversize, gadgety watch can hold you back.
But it's more than just an image. When you're polished and professional at work, "It shows you know the rules," Gustafson said. "The decision is almost always made in the first few minutes. If you look the part, you'll likely get the part."
Certainly, style and fashion are subjective, and sometimes taste differences are subtle. The trick is knowing basic rules about what is appropriate for which work settings.
Once you know the look that's appropriate for your office, be consistent, experts say.
Source: The Post and CourierAll rights reserved.