If you’re getting ready to search for a summer job or
permanent employment after
graduation, take a look in the mirror.

"You must make a good first impression," says Judy
Hibbs, a family and
consumer sciences specialist with the University of Georgia
Extension Service.

"Your first impression must say to the potential
employer that you’re honest,
reliable and friendly," Hibbs says. "You want them to
know you get along with
others and you’re capable of handling the job."

The final impression will eventually be built on your resume,
skills and knowledge. But
the employer’s first judgment will be based on how you look.

"A good appearance cannot compensate for lack of skills
and knowledge," Hibbs
says. "But if you are well-qualified, it may give you the
edge you need to get the
job.

"If an employer has several applicants with equal
qualifications," she says,
"the one who’s most appropriately dressed may get the
job."

In choosing what to wear for that all-important interview,
consider the image the
company wants to portray. Then think about the position for
which you’re applying. You
wouldn’t dress the same for a job at a car wash as you would for
a teaching position.

A company’s image could be formal and sophisticated, or
relaxed and casual. The product
or service it offers will give you the best clue on how a
company wants to appear

"Banks, stockbrokers, insurance firms and law firms —
those dealing with
financial and legal matters — want to present a conservative
image,” Hibbs says.

“On the other hand, firms dealing with glamour, fashion
and advertising will want a nonconservative image,” she says.

How formal is the company? Its size and location, its
customers, will help you define
it.

Usually small businesses or those in small towns are less
formal than larger businesses
or those in cities, Hibbs says.

“>Most companies will dress in a manner that makes their
clientele feel comfortable,” she says. “If they deal with the
public, they will want to appear helpful and
friendly. So dress will be more informal.

"The formality of the company," she says,
"usually dictates the basic
style of clothes its employees wear.”

Before you answer that ad, check the mirror. If you look like
part of the company, you
just might be right.