Today we will deal with Interviewing from a different prospective – not the usual advice about how to ace the interview, but rather, and equally important, how not to get rejected before you start. Before I began to write this, I did research on the subject, and the experts feel that between 40% to 60% of interviews are lost immediately, based on the first impression made by the candidate. That is right, you walk into the interview, you have not said a word, you haven’t even shaken hands, and the interviewer has already decided that you are not the right person for the job.  Everyone has their own biases, and in many cases they are impossible to overcome. Some interviewers will automatically screen out people who are too tall, too short, too fat, too thin, and of certain ethnicities.  The list goes on. We all are too familiar with age bias. All of these things cannot be helped. Here is what can:

The Three Common Mistakes on Interview Attire

A major mistake that candidates in our community make is showing up to an interview wearing the wrong clothes. Here are the three common mistakes:

1.        1.  You arrive at the interview wearing the latest clothes from twenty years ago. Appearing in blatantly outdated clothes gives your potential new employer the message that you are also blatantly outdated in your skills.

  2. You arrive at the interview wearing clothes that don’t fit properly. Wearing clothes that are much too large makes you appear as a hopeless sad sack. Wearing clothes that are too tight or too small looks ridiculous and that is the immediate impression the interviewer gets of you.

  3. You arrive at the interview wearing clothes that were designed for a teenager or college student. Trying to dress like a teenager, when you are twice that age, sends the message that you are not comfortable being yourself, so why would you be a good employee?

First Impressions Count

Remember – we are talking about first impressions. You make the wrong one, and the rest of the interview is a waste of everyone’s time – the interviewer in the first 10 seconds has decided that you are not the right person for the job. Unfair, probably, but these are realities we must deal with.

The simple rule on interview attire is, dress one level up from the standard of the company you are interviewing with. If the standard is tee shirt and jeans, wear business casual; if the standard is business casual, a suit and tie is appropriate for men, a suit or a dress and jacket, are appropriate for women.

This won’t get you the job, but it will keep you from losing it before you even get started.