Dress For Success

Though I admitted I loved the comfort of sweat pants, t-shirts, shorts, etc. even in college I've always tried not to dress too casual to all my classes. Not that I suggest one should dress up (nor did we have the budget to dress up - as poor college students), but try to dress appropriately, a decent pair of jeans or pants, and blouse or nice t-shirt would do. Think of your classes as meetings; if your professors come to class in pants and button-shirts, why would we show up in short and t-shirt, right? Have you heard of the phrase "dress for success" ? People's first impression of us is based on our appearance, and remember you only have one chance to make that first impression.

Well some of you may argue that one's appearance is secondary to one's true ability; people will realize and respect our ability once they work with us. Yes. But the first impression earns you that opportunity to work with these people. Before they can realize your capability through your work ethics, they see you as you dress and present yourself at the interview. As confident and technically capable as you know you are, will you still show up for an interview, dressed in ripped jeans and sweater? And then you may further argue that once a person is already in a job, why should he/she continue to impress? isn't the first impression already taken care of ? That is not true. You'll find out that every day, every week on the job, you will be presented with constant opportunities to meet with potential customers, potential partners, potential auditors, etc. If they aren't impressed, that contract is going somewhere else. So the point is, once we start working in a professional environment, we are bound to have to make that first impression every day. No need for Gucci's, but a respectable khakis/pants and button-shirts combition will do (if you are in technical field like I do).

As I am on this trend of thought, I remember spending the first 2 years at my job trying to dress and act "older". As politically incorrect as it sounds, coworkers and managements do seem to respect and pay more attention to us if they perceive us as mature individuals. So here I was 22-23 years old, starting my first professional job, already tried to be 25-26. If you ask me, I will honestly tell you that I didn't like it sometimes. But it indeed helped. The bright side is, now that I actually am older, I no longer have to bridge that gap - I look and act "older" naturally ! haha