If you are one of the many folks getting prepared to begin interviewing for a new job, this video will help you choose the best elements for your interview outfit.
There are several “do’s and dont’s” rules addressed in this news clip along with real interview appropriate clothing examples in this FOX News segment with Image Consultant and Author Kathi Burns, CPO®.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkvf-m1Rzpc
Please leave a comment below or on YouTube if this video helped you!
(Transcript)
Shally Zomorodi: Well the way you present yourself can make or break your chances at landing your dream job, so we brought in image consultant and author Kathi Burns. She’s here now and she’s going to show us how to dress the part and seal the deal. Hi Kathi!
Kathi: Hello!
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, a lot of people looking for jobs right now and it’s…a lot of competition out there so let’s get people looking sharp. Let’s just start with three looks first – the senior executive.
Kathi: The senior executive, what you want to do is you want to be very serious and straightforward. Now what we’ve done, we’ve done a little bit of an edge with the shoes. The most important thing is to have an impeccably tailored suit, so the red power tie is also quintessential. If in doubt in a job interview, a white shirt is always good. Pin striping is good because it elongates the figure and makes the person appear taller and longer and leaner, and more put together.
Shally Zomorodi: Is that pin stripes he has on his suit right now?
Kathi: It is; it’s a color-on-color pin.
Shally Zomorodi: So senior exec – black suit, white shirt, red tie – power. Because the color does matter right, because yellow actually tests as a weaker color, which yellow is one of my favorite colors but it’s not one of the colors that you should probably wear to a power interview?
Kathi: Right and it’s not necessarily good on a lot of different complexions. In fact, yellow is hard for most complexions.
Shally Zomorodi: Oh really? Interesting. Okay, what else before we let him go? Can you turn around? Can we see the whole, let’s see the whole thing? Let’s see, he has two buttons on that, what about the buttons? What about the guys that do the three buttons?
Kathi: Three buttons, you never want to have all three buttons buttoned during an interview. So on the three button – two; on a two button – one. Okay? And as they sit down, they can sit down and then they can unbutton if they feel comfortable that way. When they stand up they should button again. It just puts together an overall crisp look.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, so it’s okay either way if you want to button or unbutton when you sit?
Kathi: Yeah.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, got it.
Kathi: As long as you button it back up when you stand.
Shally Zomorodi: Right, got it. Okay, number two…thank you, sir…is the college graduate woman, entry level business. Natalia, hey we know her! She works around here! She helps us out, she interns here. So Natalia, how have you dressed her?
Kathi: Well what we’ve done is we kept her youth. The last thing I want to see with college entry level is to be suited up in black. We want to still show that she’s hip, she’s forward; she’s progressive. We’ve done a well-tailored sports suit coat, and you can see what we’ve done. We’ve done the umpire seaming, it’s really very pretty on any type of woman’s body. We’ve given her a very interesting necklace, and this will draw the interviewer’s eyes up to the eyes. And then to give a little bit of jazz, we gave her some great shoes.
Shally Zomorodi: Because you don’t want to take away from her age, you highlight her age. You don’t want to put her in the big power suit that’s not going to fit because that will send an image that she’s not sure who she is or where she’s going. If she looks like she is herself and that’s okay, then that sends a better message. Is that what you’re trying to say?
Kathi: Yes, as long as she’s very well put together which she is.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, I mean I was broke when I just got out of college. Let’s just assume that Natalia’s broke, right? Like most of us are these days, where does she shop for this kind of stuff?
Kathi: Well Macy’s is a great place to shop because you can always get suits for very inexpensive. It’s amazing how little you can pay.
Shally Zomorodi: And you know what? They will tell you when their sales are going to be. I mean like there’s certain times of the year, what are the best times of the year to get a sale on this kind of stuff. Do you know?
Kathi: Well there’s always a sale at Macy’s, pretty much all the time! They have 1-day sales continually, and this wardrobe is by Macy’s by the way. They’ve been gracious enough to provide the wardrobe for us. But you know, suits…when I graduated from college, my father gave me money to buy one suit. I went out and bought one good suit to do my interviews with. And I think that it’s very important that each college graduate has at least one suit in their artillery.
Shally Zomorodi: Thank you Natalia. Let’s get to the third – mid-thirties Mom reentering the workplace. By the way, consignment shops and Goodwill are great places to get some good stuff too if you know what you’re looking for.
Kathi: If you know what you’re looking for and you have the eye.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, alright – mid-thirties Mom. Hi Mom!
Kathi: She’s not quite mid-thirties but she’s reentering…she’s the Mom reentering the workplace from having babies.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, love it!
Kathi: You can’t tell, can you?
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, so she’s got some good stuff going on with the belt and the color. And the hemline…
Kathi: The hemline, okay. Always at the knees, that’s the quintessential hemline. Okay, so if you can always be at the knees, you’re going to be really good to go. It’s classic, it’s non-invasive, nothing about it. Now you see we have great shoes going on with her, pointy-toed shoes are always good. They elongate the torso, and she’s completely covered up as you see but she’s very impeccably dressed, and she’s serious, way down to business.
Shally Zomorodi: Good lines on that dress. Okay, thank you Mom! Do’s and don’ts, let’s start with the women’s interview don’ts.
Kathi: Do not show cleavage, do not wear heavy perfume, do not wear heavy makeup. No dangling earrings and no jingling bracelets. Those are a bunch of don’ts.
Shally Zomorodi: How about tongue piercings?
Kathi: No tongue piercings. I’ve seen that in an interview.
Shally Zomorodi: Are you kidding?
Kathi: If you have piercings, we only want two to show. On one and two; exactly [referring to ears].
Shally Zomorodi: Alright, so take it out of your nose…
Kathi: Take it out of your nose, take it out of your tongue, take it out of your eyebrow, please.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay; guy’s don’ts.
Kathi: Guys, no novelty ties. If you want to have a serious job interview, you don’t want to be wearing novelty ties, wrinkled ties. A lot of guys will wear their ties twenty times before they’ll get them dry cleaned and so they’re always rumply and wrinkly. Again, what you’re trying to do is a really crisp well put together look so that you present yourself like you’ve actually paid attention whenever you come out.
No scruffy shoes, I think shoes tell a man. So anytime there’s an investment item, you can tell a man by his shoes, don’t you think?
Shally Zomorodi: Well yeah, I do now!
Kathi: If there’s any type of investment piece, put the money into shoes.
Shally Zomorodi: Okay, can I walk in with a cup of my Starbucks or my Coffee Bean…
Kathi: No Starbucks, no gum, make sure you have a pen please. A lot of people come into interviews without pens.
Shally Zomorodi: Well your website is AddSpaceToYourLife.com. You can get to that by going to Fox5SanDiego.com. Kathi Burns, thank you much very. Models, you look great, thank you. Good luck in getting your jobs! Alright, that wraps up, again go to Fox5SanDiego.com, great information. Let’s send you back over with Raoul, who knew that somebody would show up to an interview with a tongue piercing!