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It turns out that employers and Human Resources departments are googling candidates for employment or promotion and checking out their Facebook pages to see what they say about themselves.
Uploaded photos are considered to be a good indicator of a person’s view of themselves, because that’s what they’ve chosen to show the world – so those dodgy pictures of you (male) in a mankini or (female) taking part in a wet T-shirt contest, might be doing you real harm in the career stakes.
On the other hand, smart casual clothing, a big smile and photographs in which you’re just one figure in a big group can all enhance your employment prospects because the right clothing, a happy face and a big circle of friends all tend to convince the viewer that you’re adaptable, popular and intelligent.
So what should you wear in your Facebook profile picture to get a job? A fresh polo-shirt and chinos is the favoured look for the under forty male, while the under forty female should choose a dress or skirt (the skirt should cover her knees and the sleeves of her top should cover her shoulders, but it appears any amount of cleavage doesn’t influence an employer).
It’s even more important for the over forties – men shouldn’t wear a tie because it looks ‘old and sad’ and should have their shirtsleeves, if long, rolled up a few inches to suggest they are active and practical, not stuffy and hierarchical – soft shirts are preferable to stiff starched ones. Women should ensure they don’t show bingo arms or appear in ‘mother of the bride’ type dresses – jeans are good for slim older women, and the more casual the clothing they can get away with, the better, so a contemporary T-shirt with well-fitting jeans would be ideal.
For all ages, it’s important to look fit and healthy, so pictures taken out doors in sports clothing, are a good idea, as long as they aren’t your profile picture – even a blurry picture of the back of your jacket as you walk the dog on a rainy day is enough to give a potential employer the impression that you’re dedicated to doing your duty.
Recent psychological research suggests that to impress a new prospective partner, you should not go all out with special clothing on your first date.
Instead, you should focus on where you met and what you were both wearing, and then upgrade that clothing just one level. So if you met in a library and you were wearing a polo-shirt and jeans, your upgrade might be to a comfortable shirt and jeans and the ideal date location might be a museum or gallery.
If, on the other hand, you met playing football in the park, in shorts and a vest, you might want to upgrade that sports clothing to a pair of casual trousers and a fun printed T-shirt and arrange a date to watch a sporting event.
The idea is that people agree to go out with other people for the first time when they feel comfortable with them, so if you escalate your clothing out of their comfort zone of your new mate, you cause what psychologists cause a ‘disconnect’ between the two versions of you that they are exposed to.
Women are particularly prone to this, and turn up for first dates in sparkly dresses and high heels when they were previously wearing jeans and a feminine hoodie, causing their poor date to think somebody else has turned up in their place! This means that the activities that would have seemed natural if you’d been in more relaxed clothing now become impossible in the mind of your potential partner, and so he or she suggests doing something that neither of you will enjoy so much, but that seems in keeping with your more formal clothing and so neither of you have a good time and one date is as far as you get.
If you’ve had to buy new school uniform items this year, you may be dreading the arrival of the spring and the demanded for new PE kit becuase it’s getting to be an expensive business!
Uniform is good for children’s sense of community and for ensuring equality between those who have a lot of disposable income and fashion sense, and those who lack one or the other, or both. But it’s not a cheap option, whether you’re buying in a high street store, via the school’s own shop, or even shopping online. And if you have a child who is already in adult sizes, as many thirteen year olds and up are, these days, you also end up paying VAT on their ‘children’s’ clothing.
There are some ways to save money if you’re canny:
1. Ask the school to consider wholesalers who can produce small orders (say under fifty items) of essential uniform clothing in larger sizes – this might be embroidered polo shirts or logo-printed sweatshirts, which can then be sold to parents whose children are classed as ‘outsize’ by other suppliers.
2. Consider swap shops for outgrown clothing – often a PTA committee can be organised to set up exchanges of informal jackets worn for school events held in public or specialist clothing like cricket togs, which are swiftly outgrown and yet still wearable by a smaller student, perhaps in a lower year.
3. Request that essential items such as white T-shirts worn for PE and sporting activities be non-branded – this means you can buy the cheapest available, or even persuade the school shop to bulk buy them for you. The school logo could be kept for items like kitbags that are not going to be outgrown, and still give a sense of uniform when children are taking part in outdoor events.
The 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver have revealed a new, sporty but coordinated, sassy yet streamlined, sense of winter fashion. Whether it’s the sportswear disguised as denim worn by Shaun White or the kooky headband of Chemmy Alcott, winter fashion is big!
It’s also cost-effective, because while the USA Olympic team has been dressed by Ralph Lauren, you can create the same vibe at home for a fraction of the price, by shopping around for casual clothing and a few key sporty items to make the outfit work for you.
To get the look for yourself …
1. Go for primary colours – red, white, blue and green are favourites. Nothing should be pale or faded, apart from denims. Bright winter jackets in yellow and green are likely to be big sellers in the next couple of weeks, as are skinny fit ringer T-shirts with contrast trims.
2. Polo shirts need to fit perfectly – too tight looks silly and too loose looks like a hockey player who’s forgotten his pads.
3. Hats are big – but their size is small – tiny beanie hats and close-fitting billed caps should be worn with winter jackets to get the look right.
4. Tight T-shirts are likely to be spring’s big hit for women: wear a skin-tight red or pink round-necked T-shirt under a white or yellow jacket to get the look that’s been turning up on the Olympic medal podiums all week.
The world of work is a tough one this year, but if you start planning now you can make sure that if promotion is on offer, you’re in the right place and condition to get it. Just follow this 3 point guide:
1. Be prepared – understand your company’s goals, even if they seem to have nothing to do with you. When your chance comes, show how what you are doing, or plan to do, meets those goals.
2. Dress the part – it’s not just about fitting in, it’s about dressing up. If you currently dress like everybody else in your department, you may not be looking like a promotable person. If your colleagues wear T-shirts, you should wear smart polo-shirts because a collar gives the impression of greater age and seniority. If the standard for your department is a casual shirts and jeans, stick with the shirt but buy some hardwearing work trousers because it hints that you’re looking for a more serious role. Where your team all come into work in sloppy old clothes, keep your look casual but invest in a new sporty jacket that’s also smart, because it gives the impression you have hidden depths outside of work and that implies you could, and should be doing more.
3. Don’t be lazy – dirty mugs on your desk, crumpled clothing and piles of old paperwork imply you’re not up to your current job, so why should anybody promote you? Clear away your desk debris and iron your work clothing so that it’s crisp every morning. You’d be amazed what a difference it makes to the way people see you.
And when the chance comes, remember to be nice to those who remain below you in the workforce, because they know how to drag you down again!
While you might not give a lot of thought to your jacket, apart from recognising that it keeps you warm and protected from the wind and rain, it’s one of the most versatile items of clothing around.
While a jacket can be worn over almost anything from a smart shirt and tie – when it looks formal, to a casual T-shirt, when it looks relaxed, other items of outerwear, like long coats, can look decidedly strange if worn over less formal clothing.
A high visibility jacket made of reflective material or simply with reflective strips is a good choice for the foggy and rainy weather of late winter and early spring, and is vital if you ride a bike, or are working outdoors or travelling on foot along busy roads.
The colour of your jacket says a lot about you.
• Yellow and orange jackets suggest a sporty personality and look better on people with a tan or with darker skin tones as the yellow can wash out pale skins and make them look unhealthy.
• Red is an exciting colour and suggests energy – it works better with casual clothing than formal.
• Blue is the classic colour for jackets and can be teamed with almost any other item of clothing from a printed T-shirt to a monogrammed shirt.
• White was traditionally the colour of yachting jackets so it suggests sport or smart-casual clothing. White jackets look best teamed with a strong colour and shape such as a green or brown collared polo-shirt to offer contrast.
• Black is the colour of a smart jacket and often looks formal or semi-formal – a black jacket sometimes has a bit of a funereal feel and to get away from this solemn impression, it’s best teamed with a red or pink shirt.
In the past couple of years, women have realised that as the job market has become more competitive with redundant people competing for every job, the way they look at interview is vital to the first impression they make. It’s also true that women are beginning to understand that when there are many similarly trained and qualified competitors for every promotion within a company, appearance might make the difference between promotion or staying put.
If you’re going for an interview with a new employer, see what the company literature and website can tell you about the way people dress within the company. You might see that the technical people wear T-shirts and jeans, but the sales staff are more formally dressed – this helps you to determine what you should wear.
When impressing a new employer, always dress up rather than down, if the company standard seems to be jeans and a shirt, wear a fitted women’s shirt but with smarter black trousers to show your respect for those who are interviewing you. Always try to keep to classic colours for an interview – a plain white shirt looks smart and works in all situations, whereas yellow or green or other bright shades suggest you’re not taking the situation seriously.
Once you’re in the job, remember that you can wear many clothes over and over again without looking as if you have a restricted wardrobe – the key is to accessorise cleverly to make it look as if you have an endless choice of garments. Pick simple clothing such as classic long-sleeved T-shirts in neutral colours and team them with different skirts and trousers to offer an endless range of looks.
For example, a plain black T-shirt can be worn with a cashmere cardigan, skirt and boots one day, a casually knotted scarf and trousers on another, and under a zip-up hoodie with jeans for dress-down Friday.
Christmas now means taking more care with your appearance – your favourite T-shirt might be something you can get away with wearing as you unwrap presents in the morning, but by lunchtime you need to be dressing smart-casual, especially if you’re entertaining guests. Aim for a polo-shirt with your new Christmas scarf over the top if you’re male, or for women, a long sleeved T-shirt with a shrug over the top.
The basic rule is to make a bit more effort that you usually would but not to get carried away unless there is actually a formal event (lunch with people from outside the family, drinks party etc) planned.
For trips to the pub, or out to make snowmen, choose a sleeveless fleece that allows you to move easily without losing temperature. Because winter is a grey time, choose bright colours for outdoor wear: red, bright blue or pink are ideal, but stay away from yellow if you’re a bit hungover as alcohol can make the skin yellower and the whites of the eyes somewhat tea coloured and yellow clothing simply emphasises this. A hat and scarf help to keep you warm and can add a colour contrast to your jacket or fleece so that you don’t lose your fashion cachet when you move into outdoor wear.
The UK’s Border Agency staff are getting bonuses this week, and one of them is a slightly revised uniform – new polo shirts. Why has the polo-shirt become the clothing choice of every form of security work, from the nightclub bouncer to the border patrol? Because it’s so versatile.
When people have to combine looking professional with being able to move in a hurry and engage in strenuous activity, there is no clothing that is as useful as the polo-shirt. T-shirts allow a similar range of movement but are less smart and shirts are smart but rather constricting to wear. The polo shirt combines comfortable wear with demanding situations perfectly.
Polo shirts also look good – they give an impression of fitness and physical strength without looking scary or overly confrontational. As an item of uniform they work just as well for car valets as for doormen and because they aren’t very much different to the polo-shirts the average person would wear on an evening out, they calm situations and look reassuring.
Because polo shirts are cotton or cotton rich, they allow those wearing them to feel comfortable whether the weather is winter chilly or summer hot and with the right colour/style combination a polo shirt can look very formal and dressy or utterly relaxed and casual, meaning that it fits into any situation and any kind of gathering, which makes security staff feel comfortable that they don’t stand out as targets.
The adoption of dress-down Friday has become commonplace across the world and more businesses, everywhere, are also moving to a position of allowing their staff to dress casually every day.
Casual clothing, like polo-shirts, has become business standard for several reasons:
1. Polo shirts are easy for everybody to wear, while clothing that is more constricting, such as shirts with stiff collars, cuff buttons and so on can present particular problems for people who have mobility problems or disabilities, or who are outside the standard size range.
2. Polo shirts are also easy to launder, so there’s no excuse for people not to look good. They don’t require ironing although they look ultra-smart when pressed and they work well with casual or smart trousers or jeans, and with skirts.
3. Polo shirts and other items of casual clothing are more comfortable, so staff feel better and are more productive, especially when the working day is long and they are under stress.
4. Polo-shirts and T-shirts can easily be printed or embroidered with company logos and messages to increase public awareness of the company.
So if your employer hasn’t moved to dress-down Friday or to a more casual clothing style, why not mention all the ways they’ll benefit if they do?
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