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This video is part of our professional development series focused on career paths, networking, resume and cover letter, interviewing, and performing in the organization. This series compliments our business and law lecture series.
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Jason Mance Gordon
The Business Professor
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Okay, next in our planning for the interview series, I want to talk about planning your appearance
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As we talked about in previous videos about achieving fit and how your appearance is one
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of those aspects where you can try to assimilate to what the intended employer expects of you
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by dressing the part or looking the part or having your hair look the right way or your
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extremities, your nails, your accessories, earrings, things like that, briefcase even to look the part of what a professional in that position would look like
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So when you're planning your appearance, first look to clothes. Dress to the level of formality of the office but err on the side of caution
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a tiny bit more formal than you would expect. For men in large corporate positions, this generally means suit and tie
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For women, it can mean a pantsuit or again a skirt suit
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You're generally going to go with neutral darker colors like your dark blue, black and
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charcoal or dark gray because that is just a more commonly accepted business uniform today Now if you know something about the company that leads you a different direction and you
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know that you will fit in better, that you will establish that expectation of fit by
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dressing a different way for the interview, then do that. But again, you have to be relatively certain about that before you go in and could potentially
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ruin an opportunity by presenting yourself in a way that's below the standard that they expect
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Because again, your immediate appearance is something that's incredibly important for someone's immediate perception
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Their biases that influence them so much when they're looking for someone to hire that
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fits in the organization. Next look to extremities. That's your shoes, your belt, your socks, hair, earrings, your fingernails, your jewelry
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such as watches, your briefcase, things like that, your extremities and accessories
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Again, look to the standard of the office or position. Ladies don use excessive jewelry in the business environment dangly earrings Air on the side be more conservative avoid some of these things
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Do not have multi-colored painted fingernails or extremely brightly colored fingernails that stand out
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In the same way, don't go the other direction to have black painted fingernails either
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So anyway, again, you're trying to assimilate to what you believe is the most common way
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of presenting yourself, your extremities and accessories in that office or business
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And then lastly, personal hygiene. The most important one, obviously, people aren't going to show up dirty
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Tens to be the most important. More often than not individuals overdo it
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They put too much perfume or cologne or they make the mistake because they're nervous
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They have a cigarette or chew gum or something like that beforehand
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You want to avoid anything that's going to cause an offensive odor or anything like that
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You want to make certain that your hair and fingernails and things like that obviously are clean Again no no heavy fragrance definitely no drinking beforehand because that obviously
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a red flag. And again, make certain that you don't have anything that's going to again be something offensive
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Cigarette smoke is commonly a negative or red flag for employers
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Smokers are highly discriminated against in the workforce today consciously and subconsciously
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because of the perception as to negative health consequences and potential poor decision making
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of the individuals to smoke. that's not something you want to present again during the initial interview
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So again just to review, clothing, your extremities and accessories and then your personal hygiene
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that is odors and appearance of cleanliness in your hair and in your hands, fingernails
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and of course make certain that your clothing is pressed and free of stains or anything
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like that
#Body Art
#Face & Body Care
#Make-Up & Cosmetics
#Jobs
#Career Resources & Planning