Creative Reaction

This short post over at HR World, Dress to Impress, sites a CareerBuilder.com survey where 41% of employers admit to having a tendency to promote those who dress more professionally.

Is that fair? I’m sure that there are readers whose immediate response to this is that “people shouldn’t judge…” or that this is superficial; and yet I would have to disagree.

Selling the Invisible author Harry Beckwith explains that in any business that is a service, and thus has no tangible product, the intangibles, such as how we dress become far more important.

There’s a somewhat well-known story involving management guru Tom Peters, an airline executive, and coffee stains, in which the airline executive explained that when passengers see coffee stains, they have a tendency to wonder if other aspects of the airline, such as its maintenance, are also sloppy. The airline made a better effort to clean the planes and profits rose.

So perception matters; it’s simply a reality of life. How we dress is something we have complete control over. And “dressing up” can another effect; it can actually improve our attitudes - if we let it.