You Just Made An Impression!
You Just Made An impression
Quick take a selfie, or check yourself out in the closest reflective surface, do you like what you see? Is what you are wearing right now this very second the way you would want to be seen or perceived in the work place? Don’t look now but the person you have been trying to land that interview with is walking your way and trust me their taking a mental snap shot of you and filing it away. You just missed a massive opportunity that you will never get back. In fact, 60 seconds is your window to make your 1st impression and studies show 1/10 of a second is all it takes to take in everything from just your face. Well good news you’re in complete control of that second so what are you going to do with it? I know, you’re already rationalizing well I can’t look great every second of the day, I just left the gym and had to make a few quick stops, I was only running in for a second no one will see me, I didn’t feel that great this morning, so I just want to be comfortable, I know everyone’s been there but really these are just excuses basically for laziness.
If you’re not looking for a job, and you don’t care about furthering your self at work and you don’t care about your appearance in public then move along, but if you want to use up every bit of that 60 seconds and you do care, it’s not that hard and does not take a lot of extra time, I’ll break it down into easy steps.
1. Throw away or recycle ANY cloths that you have ever said the words while wearing “I only wear this for yard work, I only clean in these, no one’s going to ever see me in this, their so comfortable I just can’t get rid of it, most likely these items of clothing are stained, worn, torn, stretched out and have long served their purpose.
2. does it fit? Is the item so big that your giving a sloppy appearance, sleeve’s hanging well beyond your wrist, skirts or pants that should be at your waist are riding on your hips, pant hem’s dragging on the ground, the seat of your pants no where actually near your seat, the shoulders of your jacket sitting below your shoulders, extra large tee shirts on small and medium framed bodies. Now turn it around are the sleeves way above your wrist, can you barely button the waist of your pant or skirt, is the seat of your pant’s so tight we are seeing more than necessary, is your jacket so tight it’s straining across your back, you can’t button it, same for shirts and blouses is it gaping between the buttons, is your tee shirt so tight it’s a second skin, when you lift your arms does it still cover your stomach.
3. Little details, scuffed up shoes, worn out heels, actual holes or tears, grungy old sandals, ill-fitting shoes example, heels hanging off the back, toes hanging off the front, worn out wallets, worn out un-kept purses, purses bulging at the seams, cheap worn out jewelry where you can see the metal has faded, anything you need to put a safety pin in, loose hems, broken zipper on anything.
It is actually very simple, when you put on the item go through the list above, does it meet any of these criteria? If so can it be repaired or altered? If not get rid of it. Would you want to be seen in it by perspective future employers or current employers? If not get rid of it.
If you don’t have the worn out ill-fitting cloths in your closet you won’t be wearing them on the day you wanted to make your first best impression! By following a few simple guidelines, you will always be ready.