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March 19, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO - The footage and photos are compelling. Over 3,700 job hungry Americans in their finest "interview suits" queue around hotel corridors and spill into Manhattan streets anxiously waiting to enter a job fair two weeks ago. With employment losses exceeding 600,000 a month for three straight months for the first time since 1939, interviewing for a job has taken on an entire new level of importance for most of the country.
In a nation where casual Friday in the workplace has trickled into a five-day-a-week norm at many companies, a plethora of unemployed Americans are being forced to make a paradigm shift and give their approach to interviews a "fresh coat of paint." A well-pressed suit, polished shoes and a new haircut are suddenly "musts" when scores of other applicants are competing for the same position and so much is at stake.
Oliso, a high-performance iron manufacturer headquartered in San Francisco, makes it its business to ensure that Americans look their best. "An appropriate moniker for this era is 'The Iron Age' - as in, Americans are breaking out their irons, many for the first time, in record numbers to ensure they look their absolute best before heading off to an interview," reports Ehsan Alipour, president of Oliso Irons. "As the saying goes, 'you only have one chance to make a good first impression,' and perhaps this has never been more important to Americans than right now," Alipour continued.
In addition to the focus on fastidiousness, another result of the current economic state is that Americans are forgoing trips to the dry cleaner in exchange for the cost-free exercise of pressing their pleats at home. Dry cleaning costs combined with the gas required to get to the dry cleaner, are pushing this cash-strapped nation to dust off their old iron or invest in a new high tech, high-performance one.
Oliso Smart Irons offer the following tips to those in search of the immaculate image when heading out for a job interview. If there are problems with the outfit you plan to wear, the time to fix them is not when the interview confirmation finally lands in your Inbox.
- Plan ahead!
- Shop in your closet: Most don't have the resources to purchase a new suit. Take a hard look in your closet at what you already own. Rather than buy something new, dress up or stylize your old suit with a different shirt, tie or scarf. This can bring an entire new look to an old outfit.
- Wrinkles are wrong. Showing up for an interview in the "perfect" outfit that is wrinkled tells your perspective boss that either you don't care or that you are too lazy to iron it. Use the vertical steam feature on your iron to steam out your suit jacket while it's on the hanger. Wrinkles will fall out in tough-to-fix areas such as the arms, shoulder and back of the jacket. There is no need to pay for the cleaning of a suit at the dry cleaner when all it needs is a quick freshening up with steam.
- If your closet is cramped, chances are you are going to need to steam out or iron your outfit before wearing it, even if it's still in the bag from the dry cleaner.
- Polish your shoes. Even if you think they don't need it, a good polish to an old pair of shoes makes them shine and appear brand new.
- Make sure your socks match your shoes and suit, and are thigh high. You don't want an interviewer to be distracted by your bare leg when you cross your leg during an interview and your pants leg rides up.
- Short skirts (above the knee) have no place in the interview process even if it's part of a suit.
- Remove your nose ring and/or tongue ring if you have them. If you have tattoos that are visible, do your best to cover them. Right or wrong, why take the chance that the person interviewing you may not be a fan of such things. You can always reveal these once you get hired, if it's appropriate.
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