Career Goals: Clothing Tips for Businesswomen
To achieve career goals, businesswomen need clothing tips! Here, Super Businesswoman Lois Frankel shares clothing tips for businesswomen.
First, here’s what she says about how your appearance affects how you’re perceived at work:
“Research shows that about 55% of your credibility comes from how you look,” writes Frankel in Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers. “How you sound accounts for an additional 38%. Only 7% of your credibility is based on what you say.”
Do you think your appearance doesn’t make a difference at work? Think again. To read more about women achieving career goals, click on Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Frankel. And, here are some of her clothing tips for businesswomen.
Career Goals: Clothing Tips for Businesswomen
1. Wear the appropriate amount of makeup. “I once asked the boss of a woman scientist for feedback about what she could do to overcome existing barriers to promotion,” writes Frankel in Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. “He explained for her staff.” When Frankel pressed him - he looked like he had something else to say - he sheepishly said, “Maybe she could start wearing makeup.” Even in our modern era, I guess a woman’s appearance does affect how far she’ll progress at work. Sad.
2. Get a free consultation or makeover. You see them on Oprah and in magazines all the time: those “before” and “after” shots of women. A clothing tip for businesswomen with career goals includes being aware of what looks good on your face, knowing how to apply makeup skillfully, and learning when to kick it up a notch for those after work drinks.
3. Match your clothing style to your workplace. A clothing tip for businesswomen with career goals is to tune in to the vibes at work. Is your office understated, or your trendy store upper-class? Don’t neglect your fashion sense altogether, but remember that you’re not only representing your company, you’re representing yourself as an employee.
4. Remember that short hair looks more professional. Knowing what to wear to work includes choosing a hairstyle that complements your image. “Typically, your hair should get increasingly shorter as you get older and go higher on the corporate ladder,” writes Frankel. “Not only is shorter hair more professional, but longer hair tends to emphasize facial features of which we may be less proud as we age.” Here’s a clothing tip for businesswomen with career goals: the bigger your position, the more professional you need to look.
5. Consider what your role models are wearing. If you’re genuinely confused about what to wear for work, look at the women in senior positions in your office. That’s how you should dress. This is clothing tip for businesswomen with career goals is workable even if you know nothing about fashion trends.
6. View clothes as an investment in your future. Frankel advises businesswomen to buy several really good outfits a year. Set aside part of your budget as a clothing allowance, and purchase good-quality clothes.
7. Don’t groom in public. Knowing what to wear to work for women also involves knowing what not to do. Frankel’s career advice includes not touching your hair unnecessarily, not fixing your makeup in a meeting or at a business lunch, and not spending long amounts of time in the ladies’ room during business meetings. Clothing tips for career women go beyond what you wear!
8. Leave the long, dangly earrings at home. Here’s a clothing tip for businesswomen with career goals: be careful not to overdo your jewelry and other accessorizes. “Carefully chosen, accessories add style and personality to otherwise conservative corporate attire,” writes Frankel in Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office. “But when inappropriate or overdone, they detract from your credibility.”
9. Match what you’re wearing to your activities that day. If you’re giving a presentation to a large group of people, feel free to choose bolder accessories. Frankel’s clothing tips for businesswomen with career goals includes being aware of what impression you want to make on your colleagues and clients…and deliberately making that impression.
10. Wear eyeglasses if you want to look more mature. “Glasses can be used as a prop to make you appear more mature of you have difficulty with being taken seriously because you look too young,” says Frankel. Knowing what to wear to work for women includes using props to enhance the image you want to project.
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