Welcome to Ask an Expert Business Series with Misty Lambrecht, the owner of Webfoot Marketing and Design, sharing valuable insights based on her extensive 15 years of experience in business startups and advising in Lincoln County. I want to preface this article with a disclaimer. Since I was a very young child, I have been an avid shopper at second hand stores. Almost every single piece of clothing I owned, with the exception of underclothing, has been purchased from a secondhand store. I am pretty confident that my children reached the age of 18 without a single brand new pair of jeans purchased from a large retailer and never clothing shopped in a mall.
Clothes shopping was an event in my family where we would travel and meet with my aunts and grandmother, and we would all go to the thrift stores together, checking out what tags were discounted by color. Even today, I have a huge secondhand wardrobe.
Dress appropriately for the job. I’m actually surprised that I continue to have this
conversation with business owners, artists trying to get into galleries and folks I
work with seeking employment. While most of us know you probably wouldn't
show up with a button-down white shirt for a construction job any more than you
would show up for a job at a gym or childcare center with 5-inch stilettos and a
prom dress.
People judge us by what we wear. I was surprised when I sat on a jury and observed a defense attorney who was constantly pulling up what appeared to be sweatpants, having to adjust her clothing every time she had to stand up. I can say it affected my opinion of her case, her client lost not just by my vote. I was on an interview committee for someone who wanted a fairly high-end job in the county, and the woman who showed up for the interview literally had I-just-went-to-the-beach flip-flops and way too tight spandex jogger pants.
When trying to sell a high-end product that costs a lot of money, such as a nice
piece of art that costs thousands of dollars or a marketing plan that’s going to
cost a business owner $500 a month, or even going for a job as a retail clerk. It’s
important to look the part and dress as if you could actually afford your own
product or would present the professional front I am looking for in my business.
If you look like you just walked out of the gym or spent the whole day gardening,
it’s going to be hard for me to view you as a professional marketing firm.
We've become so casual now that we use Zoom so much and work out of our
homes. Part of the standard joke is that we have a "Zoom shirt" because we only
dress nicely from the waist up. But as we transition back into the world, our appearance really matters. It's not about whether we're fat or thin, but it's about how we dress. Scents are another important aspect of working in close quarters. When going for a job interview, if you smell strongly of cologne, perfume, or basic body odor, even if you're the most qualified person, the interviewer may not want to spend their entire day working with you, especially if they have sensitivities to fragrances or strong body odor.
I recently read a really good employee manual that included a dress code. The dress code said "no cracks" meaning you had to be able to bend down, lean over, and touch your toes without revealing your butt crack or cleavage or needing to adjust your clothes. As much as we'd like to think that the world has become more casual and laid-back, I think many people have taken this too far. The way you dress, how you look, and how you present yourself are important factors in whether you get the job, the new account, or how you're perceived at work. You don't need to break the bank or wear designer clothes. Three nice sweaters for $20 are common at second-hand stores. I purchased a three-piece mint-condition, name-brand dress suit I wore three times to formal events for under $30.
