GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Charisse Poquette, who left the work force to have a baby, put together a professional look for her clerical job search with help from the Dress for Success program. Two-piece outfits like the one she's wearing start at $9.99 at Goodwill.
Proper attire is essential
when applying for jobsPrograms help discover low-cost options
Blame it on "Sex in the City" and InStyle. What passes for a working wardrobe in the fantasyland of television and fashion magazines isn't necessarily suitable in real life, but you'd never know it by looking at what some people wear on the job, or worse, while looking for one.
WorkForce 2003
Where: Neal Blaisdell CenterWhen: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow
Admission: $2 general; $1 for students with a valid school I.D.
Call: 536-7222
Note: Job seekers should dress appropriately for a job interview, bring resumes and have a positive attitude.
Workshops: Teaching in Hawaii, 10 a.m.; Opportunities in Government, 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.; Federal Application Workshop, 11 a.m.; Careers with the HPD, 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; Dress for Success seminar, 2 p.m.
After six years of staging WorkForce Job Fairs, promoters have seen everything from blue hair to bikinis and slippers.
"It can be bad, real bad, and not conducive at all to getting a job," said Beth Busch, Western region vice president for Success Advertising. "When they come in bare feet I'm not sure what job it is they want."
To be fair, most people head to the fair with the impression that it's comparable to a weekend craft fair or trade show, a casual event where they can pick up information, look at displays and just see what's available.
This year there will be 107 employers including recruiters from hospitals, retailers, the Honolulu Police Department, cruise ships, restaurants and the tourism industry. Applicants should show up prepared with a resume and a portfolio if applicable, and should be well-groomed.
"They don't realize that they're going to be seen by recruiters as soon as they come through the door," Busch said.
The examples above are extreme, but the notion of what's acceptable in the workplace can be confusing. While television employers offer plenty of leeway for spaghetti-strap tops and sheer fabric, and the magazines tout trends as followed by celebrities whose job is to flaunt their physical wares, some job applicants haven't yet detected a shift in the universe. "Casual days" are dead, replaced by a more formal code.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kim Kubo helps Mokihana Itamura with her makeup. Kubo will be giving a Dress for Success seminar at 2 p.m. tomorrow during the WorkForce 2003 job fair. Goodwill will be among the recruiters.
"Every year we can see whether it's a job seekers' or employers' market, and it's definitely an employers' market. So that means competition will be fierce and people need to put their best foot forward," Busch said.
"Employers have more power now. That makes salaries go down and makes rules more strict," Busch said. "Lots of employers in the dot-com days learned stuff about balance of life, so we're not going back to the days of no freedom. They learned that happy employees are productive employees. But the days when a 20-year-old can come out of school and make $300,000 are gone. In this new world they will have to conform and compete."
The same holds true even in the food industry, where employees are behind the scenes but health standards are high, and in jobs involving uniforms, such as HPD, where detective Alan Bluemke said people show up for interviews unshaven and in wrinkled clothing, as if they'd just rolled out of bed.
"The way you dress wouldn't necessarily get you disqualified for a position but first impressions are important and it sets the tone as to a person's desire for a job," he said.
"We give them the courtesy of the full interview. We don't screen job applicants based on dress but during the interview we usually find there is a correlation between dress and maturity level. The ones who are ill-prepared bring back applications and personal histories that are sloppy, that are not filled out completely."
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Summerlynn Kahele, 20, and Brandon Revilla, 17, showed up for the photo session looking like any job-seeking teens, but a change of outfits gave them first-job polish.
Details matter. Among younger applicants, he finds many walk in for interviews "with sunglasses on or propped on their heads, or with baseball caps on.
"I don't think they do it to be disrespectful but for the interviewer it looks like the person is not serious or is not ready for a position of responsibility. We're looking for a sign of maturity because these are disciplined positions subject to dress and grooming standards.
From his position as a background investigator for recruitment, he said 5 to 10 percent of applicants are not prepared for a job search, even after going through the department's orientation session which points what is expected during a hiring process that involves four interviews, including a talk with a psychologist and a polygraph session.
Appropriate dress for HPD, by the way, is "business casual," meaning, for men, aloha shirt or collared shirt with slacks and shoes.
The "business casual" ethic is also in place at Bank of Hawaii, which will be looking for tellers, call center personnel and individuals for professional positions at tomorrow's job fair.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
He's wearing Tommy Bahamas silk khaki pants ($115) and a silk aloha shirt ($86) from Macy's, which will be among the recruiters at tomorrow's WorkForce 2003 job fair.
Lester Steifel, senior vice president in the bank's human resources department, said the company's dress code is spelled out in an employee handbook so there's little margin for error. That means no T-shirts, frayed or torn or faded clothing, and no denim or athletic clothing, even though magazines are touting the denim and athletic looks.
"There's a time and a place for fashion," he said. "If you're going to the Ocean Club you're going to dress one way, but in a corporate setting you have to get a sense of the corporate or business culture. Look around you at what others are wearing.
"If you want to dye your hair bright red hair and you're working at an avant garde hair salon, that might be terrific, but in a conservative environment that might not be so terrific."
One must consider that the world has become more conservative over the past five years, marked by a downturn in business in general.
GEORGE F. LEE / GLEE@STARBULLETIN.COM
She's wearing a $300 ensemble from Dress for Success corporate sponsor Ann Taylor.
"Your employer may not care and may not want to stifle your creativity, but he needs to make a living," Busch said. "What he thinks doesn't matter as much as what customers think about that kind of thing, and if he sees that your clothing or demeanor is keeping people away, you're not going to be there long."
When getting dressed for work or a job search, "just try to think of what a majority of the public would consider appropriate," she said. "The goal is not to stand out but to blend in.
"Anything that might be considered excessive, stop it!"
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Programs help discover
low-cost options for
dressing for success
One barrier for job seekers just out of school or re-entering the work force is having the money for a working wardrobe, but there's no need to spend a lot of money to appear well groomed.
Thrift shops are a good place to start for those low on cash, and agencies such as Goodwill help disadvantaged women make the transition to the working world. Among Goodwill's services is a Job Club program that allows individuals to create resumes, go through practice interviews and learn to dress for work world.
The program focuses on confidence building, said Goodwill marketing director Laura Kay Rand. "Maybe they've been out of the job market for a while or are making a change to a different industry so they need to move toward a different kind of dress or style.
"Any role we happen to play in life partly depends on the right item of clothing. If you feel self-conscious, it's hard to project that aura of self-confidence that employers are looking for.
"When you put on the right clothes, you automatically stand a little taller, your shoulders go back.
"What you wear is just as important as interview skills. People might not pay attention to it because they're so focused on what they're going to say, but employers are looking for a total package, and what you look like is absolutely part of the package."
Dress for Success, headquartered at the YWCA, assists partner programs such as Goodwill by providing its clients with makeup, grooming and clothing advice.
Dress for Success program coordinator Kim Kubo said that those who go through the program receive one interview outfit to keep and receive a second career outfit once they are hired.
Although everyone wishes they could get such help, the program takes no walk-ins. Clients are referred through partner agencies such as Goodwill, Alu Like, Sisters Offering Support and Na Wahine O Ke Au Hou (Women of the New Era).
Summerlynn Kahele, looking for her first job, arrived at our photo session looking like a typical teen with multicolored hair and jeans. Minutes later, dressed and made up by Kubo, she looked like a polished professional.
"Seeing this makeup and hair makes me feel I'm much older, like I'm already working," Kahele said. "I don't feel like someone who's just looking for a job."
She's aiming to be a receptionist and acknowledges the importance of dress in that role. "It's the first person you see when you walk into a business, and I want to be that person with a smile on my face, greeting customers."
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