Page 108 - James Caan - Get the Job you Really Want

Looking the part

If I was preparing to attend an interview, I would go straight
back to the website for the company concerned – having
already gutted it for all the information I could find on what

the business does. Every company site has a section about their
team. I would scroll through the photos of the key sta≠ members
and look at what they are wearing in what are likely to have

been quite carefully selected images. That exercise, as part of
your overall research and preparation, will tell you a lot about
what you should be wearing for the interview.
The key, for me, is to be within the range of their look – few
companies have a dress code as such, but they do have a distinc-

tive look. Every company has a look. When you walk into any
organization, you can tell what that look is. IBM has a look, Nokia
and T-Mobile will have a look, Google definitely has a look. As

soon as you arrive at Google’s o≤ces, you are aware that the
atmosphere is very casual, very relaxed. If I walked into Google
wearing a blue pinstripe suit, white shirt and red tie I would
look wrong.
A company’s look also works in reverse. In the mindset of an

employer, if you have ever hired somebody from a particular
organization and that hiring decision has worked out well, it
creates a kind of template, so that if you see somebody else from

that type of organization, your mind is already predisposed to
give the new candidate the benefit of that positive image.

96 get the job you really want