dress for success

I'm sure that most of you have seen Julia Roberts and her portrayal of Erin Brockovich. There's no doubt that the work of the real Erin Brockovich is nothing short of absolutely astonishing and she continues to inspire others as a dedicated environmental activist. Even with all of this hard work & natural talent she obviously carries, my mind cannot help but wonder how many obstacles she has encountered in her lifetime simply because of the way she dressed while on the job? When I hear her name, my first thought is of tight mini-skirts and enough cleavage to make some people blush.... then, my mind goes to the excellent work she has done. Let's face it... we live in a visual society and it's almost impossible to escape the ramifications that come along with that.

Recently, careerbuilder.com surveyed employers to discover that 41% say that people who dress better or more professionally tend to be promoted more often than others in their organization. The survey dug in a little bit deeper to find that employers give more weight in an interview to candidates who show up wearing a business suit than those who do not. In an effort to encourage employees to continually look professional, some employers have made the decision to ban certain items of clothing such as flip-flops, mini-skirts, & even jeans.

Just like many other companies, mine faces these same issues. In an effort to find an out of the box way to address these issues, we came up with our own Dress for Success Panel. For the first panel we held, we brought in one of our departments that is 100% female-based & put together a panel of 5 women from our organization that were director level or above. The moderator posed a few questions to get the session going and to keep it moving if need be, but for the most part the ladies kept the conversation lively and upbeat. You could see the enthusiasm in the group to find out what tips and tricks that they could each use to help further their own careers. It was so interesting to hear the questions from the women of our organization and the concerns they already have about being able to dress to impress. It was even more impressive and ultimately humbling to hear one of our vice presidents (one of our best-dressed vice presidents at that) talk about sharing suits with her roommate when she was fresh out of college to appear like she had more clothes than she did.

Since the inception of the first panel, we now hold the panel monthly with a different set of panelists each time. We've also encorporated men in the panel to ensure that each and every employee can get the most out of the experience. I think that with out a doubt this program has been a success. It's provided a fresh perspective on how being aware of your personal style can only positively enfluence your career.