What Women Want... to Wear

Men seem to have it made when it comes to deciding what to wear while looking for a job. A solid suit that is pressed over a stain free shirt and tie, pants with a belt along with polished shoes to match will do the trick every time. Teeth brushed, with a quick shave and comb through the hair is all it takes to be interview ready.

For women the procedure is not so simple, but it can be. Women are emotional beings and tend to want to wear what we feel expresses our essence the best. Because the part of ourselves we want to project differs from day to day we get up and go from where we are when we wake up. Colors, fabrics, the cut of the clothes or how we want to wear our hair is determined or debated after the alarm goes off. There are as many morning makeover regimens as there are women in the workforce and even more including stay-at-home-moms and trophy wives. Scrunching, scrubbing, primping, plucking, pressing, brushing, blushing, blowing, drying, curling, crying, straightening, lining, glossing, moisturizing and whatever else it takes to look like we didn’t put in any effort are all part of the process. That’s all before we try on a plethora of outfits and several shoe selections. Then in the end we opt for our initial inclinations.

Looking your best is important for an interview but stressing over it isn’t productive. Planning ahead can have you out the door and ready to go without second guessing your God-given gift of female intuition. Simplifying your options is the first step. Limit yourself to 3 choices and stick to them, only swaying if your gut is telling you to do something different and won’t let it go. Like the male standard, women should stick to a suit with a well fitting button down blouse for almost every interview. Pick something in a solid subdued color like black, navy or gray. If you have the opportunity you should invest in a 3 piece ensemble that has a jacket, pants and a skirt. As a third option add a coordinating jumper and another jacket in case you have an interview on a day you don’t feel like wearing a waistband. Don’t overdo hair and makeup either. Hiring managers will pass on people they think are high maintenance. Practice a simple “first impression look” that is easy to achieve and compliments your natural beauty. If you have naturally curly hair keep it that way, same thing goes if you have straight hair. If you get a call to come in for an appointment ASAP you don’t want to be worried about if you have the time to make your coif cooperate. Learn how to swing a simple up-do as well for when you are super short on time.

The next time you’re having a what-to-wear crisis stop stressing. Keep it simple and if all else fails you can fall back on eenie-meenie-miney-moe. Remember what we learned as little girls watching Annie, it’s what you wear from ear to ear, and not from head to toe that matters.

Check out RetailGigs.comfor an extensive resource on job opportunities, career seeking solutions, and career advancement tips.

By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for RetailGigsBlog.com, she is co-founder of design and promotion company, Creative Kazoo with fellow Nexxt blogger, Staci Dennis. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.