Following on from the last post … here are some more points about dressing appropriately.

4. Linked closely to the shoes are socks.  Guys, please do not show leg when you have your socks on.  You need to buy socks that are long enough so your trouser cuff goes over the sock, so that when you cross your legs, you only see shoe, sock and trouser.  It’s not a good look to show funny looking legs that are hairy, pimply, sun-burnt, pink or whatever.  It’s just not professional looking.

5. Now, for guys, in particular (an aside: I actually heard of a case where a friend of a friend of mine didn’t get a job in this very up-market firm in a business development role because he wore a plastic watch).  Now you might think, ‘Oh, come on, James.  That’s just going way too far.’  No its not too far.  One of the criteria of how this particular firm judged people was the way they looked, what they wore, the way they sounded, and one of the little things apart from items like shoes, French cuffs and a nice tie was the wrist watch they were wearing.  It doesn’t have to be an expensive Rolex, Omega, Raymond Weil or any of those fancy Swiss brands, but it needs to be a decent watch and it should be a watch that is made of metal, usually stainless steel.  The watch that I have is a Seiko sports watch.  It’s all stainless steel.  I’ve had it for years and years.  It’s not an expensive watch, it was less than $500 but it looks good, a little expensive and substantial.

6. If you’re wearing French cuffs, it’s all the rage in cuff links  to wear little sailing boats, anchors, space ships, hammers and so on. In a first meeting, be it an interview or  just to get advice from someone,  don’t wear those “novelty” cuff links.  It’s almost akin to that fad years ago, for those of you who are old enough to remember, when people wore  Donald Duck socks and Mickey Mouse ties and so on.  It was funny and cute for about five minutes, but you can’t take anyone seriously wearing a Tweetie Bird tie.  I mean … come on.  Adopt that same sort of attitude when it comes to cuff links.  Depending upon the sort of job that you’re doing now and the industry that you work in, it’s easier to go conservative.  If you’re, for example, working in the advertising field or marketing, well then fine, dress to the way that the people in the industry dress and show some flair and individuality.   Just be careful

Hope the above helps.

See you next time.

James E

James Evangelidis

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Tagged as: dress, socks, watches