Let’s face it. Humans are judgmental creatures. Most people have already made up their mind about you within the first 30 seconds of meeting you. It may be even shorter than that. The human attention span has actually fallen from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to 8 seconds based on a 2018 study.
Everything we do, we seem to do faster. We process more information, more pop-ups more ads, more news, more blogs…even dating has become a 3 second swipe left or right endeavor.
This is true for interviewers as well as they may choose to swipe swipe you out the door after a first impression. It doesn’t seem fair, but it does emphasize the point that in our world, first impressions matter. Whatever you can do to put your best foot forward in the initial interview probably won’t win you the job by itself, but it will help your chances of not losing the job and standing in there.
Let’s use another metaphor for a first interview:
My favorite game in the 80’s was Mike Tyson’s Punch Out on the Nintendo 64! It was a boxing game. If you were good enough to get past all of the computer opponents then you would get a bout with the one and only himself, Mike Tyson. The game was set up with 3 rounds that were 3 minutes each. If you got knocked down 3 times in a round, then you would lose. If you got knocked down 3-4 times in the entire match you would lose. The first 2 minutes any punches that Iron Mike landed would knock you down and they came with very little warning. After that it would get (relatively) easier. The first job interview is the same. You have to survive the first few minutes and then your chances will improve!
The best and easiest thing you can do is dress for the interview. How should one be dressed for the interview? Quite simply, you try to overdress and look nice. But that is simplifying it. There are several ways that you can determine how you should prepare for the interview:
1) Culture of the company. Look on the website. You know they have cheesy office photos and action pictures of personnel looking busy and engaged. Look and see how they are dressed. Are people dressed in formal business wear, business casual or are they wearing burlap sacks? I don’t think you dress to match, but I have found dressing more formal than what I see on their website makes a favorable impression.
2) Nature of the job. Is it a field or factory job? Again, I don’t think it hurts to look at the company’s website. Still going in dressed in a collared shirt and khaki pants. You could wear jeans I suppose, but I would think something in the business casual mode wouldn’t hurt.
3) Notes for women applicants: I am not a fashion expert by any means. The question always comes up and most conventional advice is to dress conservatively. How conservatively I think depends partially on the culture of the company. Again, I think you can get an idea from the company’s social media pages based on how other women present themselves in a business setting. If you are applying for a factory or labor-intensive job, then I would suggest wearing a nice pare of slacks and button-down shirt with a collar. Since you would probably not be working on the factory floor in heels and you want your potential boss to see you as an employee, flats would be the order of the day!
4) The scent of success: Don’t go too heavy on the perfume and guys do not use the Axe Body Spray. I have allergies to some colognes and perfumes and I have come out of some interviews gasping for air with red bloodshot eyes. Needless to say, that was not something I wanted to be around every day.
5) Clean it up! Brush your hair, be clean shaven. Make sure your breath doesn’t smell. Check your nose for any dangling nose nuggets. Also floss your teeth. No one wants to see the turkey from last Thanksgiving in between your incisors.
6) Bring a nice portfolio with notepaper in it. There should be preprepared questions in there so you are ready to interview your interviewer. (Here is an entry on that here).
Those are some thoughts on how you can present yourself in your interview. I can’t guarantee you’ll KO Iron Mike, but at least you’ll look good trying! For more on interview preparation, click here and here.