I was watching television and I happened
upon a makeover show. On this show, people are given make overs of clothing,
hair, and make up. Before the makeover begins, a picture of the person in their
chosen attire is presented to random people on the street and are asked their impression
of the person. After the opinion is given, the random person is asked to rate
the show’s participant based on looks. The
statements of the random individuals is not favorable and the person is given a
makeover by professional stylists and beauticians. The same random people on the street are
asked again what the opinion is and of course it is much more favorable. The
random people now “love” the image of the person.
I watched two episodes of this show. Each
time the makeover candidate was asked why she wanted to change her appearance.
Each time the reason was career related. One woman was unemployed and seeking
employment. The other was employed, but seeking a career change. The first show
had a young and petite woman, who had large tattoos on her body in visible
places. They were colorful and could not be easily covered. She also had long pink hair and heavy dark
make up. Her clothing was extreme. One outfit made her look like a mermaid. She
stated that she was seeking a job and was having difficulty finding one because
she was not being taken seriously by employers. The second make over candidate
was a young woman in her late 20’s wearing clothing that she had since she was
in middle school. She was sporting hair with two different colors, plastic
jelly shoes with glitter on them, halter tops with cartoon patterns on them,
and a fanny pack. This woman stated to
the host that she has been working in a pre-school for 10 years and wanted to
change her career to become a hairdresser.
The end of each of these examples ends with a full make over into
clothing that is fitting for the professional environment that each was
seeking. Details such as hair and makeup were not over looked and the opinions
of each random person changed to the favorable “love.”
This show is not booked as a show about
workforce development or a show about job seeking, but it does bring up a great
point. Image is important for job seeking.
Many job seekers have an image problem. The image of the person is not
relaying that they are candidates for the profession that they are seeking. While the above examples are extreme, how many
job seekers are not dressing appropriately for the job they are interviewing?
Do you have job seekers that are not wearing a suit for a managerial position?
Do you have job seekers wearing boots to job interviews? How many men choose to not wear a tie with a
button down shirt? Dress may not be an
issue for some job seekers, but excessive fragrance, smoke smell, visible
tattoos, or heavy inappropriate make up will be.
Over the years, I have learned that I
cannot just assume an individual knows what appropriate job interview attire is.
I have also learned that it is not enough to show pictures of interview
clothing. The best way to measure a person’s understanding of this subject is
to ask the job seeker to come to an appointment dressed for an interview. The
chosen attire is a conversation starting point. Other image related conversations
may involve harnessing youthful appearance for mature workers, or hygiene
issues for someone that struggles in this area.
As workforce development professionals, we
may have to wear many hats with the job seekers we service. It is no longer enough
to just speak on the technical mechanics of job seeking to get employment.
Instead, we need to look to the whole person, image included, to assist them
with finding employment. Questions, comments, ideas? Feel free to post below or
to reach me by email at kcirincione@gmail.com,
on Twitter @kcirincione, or on Linked In at https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenjcirincione.
~ Karen Cirincione
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