6 ways your wears/packaging could cost you your dream job

                                                                         HR Talk 

                                                                             with

                                                 Moruf Kolawole Nasir (Experienced HR Practitioner)

Like man, the cooperate 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 effect 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 job seekers missed 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 care-free 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 has cost many their dream jobs. 

FACIAL WEAR: There is a saying that the most important of all your wears is your facial wear; this is by 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 necessary the best of the wears. Remember the power of first impression, even if the interview start late (sometimes deliberate), your reaction to such situation will go a long way to 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.  

YOUR SUIT:  Yes your suit. In my many years of interview experience I have seen all manners of suits from applicants. Some are big enough to put interviewers off that some of them immediately write you off, especially in places where they give high 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 over-sized or unfitted suits will, on the other hand present 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.   

YOUR TIE:  wearing a tie in itself does not automatically makes you formal in your appearance; how you wear it go a long way to telling if you are formal or rascal. A tie does two things for you: it either presents you as a gentle man or an un-serious person. I don’t know of any company who will like to hire an un-serious 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 rioting will be a put off to anybody.

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 panelist- 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 not button up properly; yet they complain of not getting jobs, 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 un-straightened 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.  

To be continued next week.

We want to use this medium to apologize for the break in the publication of HR Talk for some weeks, this is due to some circumstances that were beyond our control. Thank you for always looking forward to read HR Talk.