Get Noticed For Promotion
I’ve explored the importance of appearance in making a good first impression in Dress for Interview Success and there’s that fun video from Howcast I posted in June.
It’s also a good idea to spruce up your appearance to get noticed for promotion. In my book, I tell a story about a woman who wisely used the dress for success credo to her advantage.
Excerpt from What You Need To Know To Get A Job Now!
I once interviewed a woman who told me about her first real job out of college and how she moved forward in her career to the next level because of how she dressed.
Sally was working as an office clerk for a state agency. She had read an article advising that to get ahead you should always dress for the job you want, not for the job you have. At her workplace, the attire was pretty casual. Though jeans were not allowed, no one really wore suits except some of the managers some of the time. So, Sally decided to start dressing more formally – wearing nice skirts, jackets and pantsuits.
At first, she got questions like, “Are you going to a funeral today?” or “Are you going to an interview?” But then her co-workers got used to her dressing up. Her managers noticed too. When VIPs and politicians from around the state came into town to visit the agency, who do you think the managers asked to run to the airport to pick them up? Who do you think they asked to give the grand tour around the agency’s offices? Sally, of course. In her first job as a clerk, she was given more challenging assignments, which led to a promotion. It’s all about attitude and how you present yourself… and, in Sally’s case, it was about professional appearance too.
Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and co-owner of Great Occupations. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, webclasses, personalized coaching sessions, as well as through The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more at www.greatoccupations.com.