My Comments – Denise Grier’s Tips Part 1

Like Denise I have had very little difficulty getting the jobs I want. My success came as a result of learning the key principles for successful interviewing, which is why I have spent the last 17 years or so sharing my thoughts with anyone who needs help. Hence, this blog Tough Questions? Great Answers! seems like a natural progression of what I have been sharing for years.

In any case, I wanted to share my thoughts on Denise Grier’s article, Five Steps to A Successful Interview! For those of you new to my blog, I love to pull out coachable moments or lessons learned when sharing other people’s writings on my site.

Here are my Lessons Learned from Five Steps to A Successful Interview!

1. Dress for Success – I like what Denise shares in her posts “Tips for the First Time Speaker”. Here is her direct quote, “Speaking of shining, make sure you look and smell your best. That means scrubbing yourself to a shine. Clean out your ears. Buff your heels with a pumice stone. Clip your toenails. Whatever regular rules of hygiene you follow, crank them up a notch too. Don’t laugh. Accounts have been lost over something as minor as bad breath. You should be crisp and impressive, from your outfit, your hair, your shoes, right down to how your fingernails are manicured.” I say YES!

Your appearance is critical to gaining credibility when you are sitting across the hiring manager in an interview. For women, a dark suit with pearls and pumps is still appropriate. For men, conservative suits with white or blue shirts and a silk tie will be welcomed.

Unfortunately, we have woman wearing halters under business jackets, fishnet or patterned stockings, short, tight skirts and dresses. Today, people show up to interviews with t-shirts with questionable messages, sneakers, jeans and the like. If you want to seriously compete for a job, it is important that you look the part. Otherwise, you are not a credible candidate.

Here is a quick story: When I was interviewing for trainers many years ago, I had a woman show up for her presentation with a skateboard, and tube socks. As she moved from her introduction into her presentation, she hicked up her dress and kicked her leg up to put on the tube socks. Mind you, she never stopped talking, it was part of the presentation. The problem was she had pink underwear on under the skirt and she shared more with my team than we were expecting. Needless to say, she didn’t get the job and we laughed for weeks about that “display” of inappropriateness.

More to Come!