Is this image distracting to you?
I have experienced a situation where a potential candidate for hire had on make-up very similar to this, possibly worse. Now to be straight, there were many other things that went wrong with this interview! However, the distraction of such an overzealous make-up job created a situation in which it made it hard for me to concentrate on what really mattered; could this individual perform the necessary tasks to be successful in the position for which she was applying?
No matter how “fun loving” or carefree your personality is, this is not the first impression to make with a potential employer. If this is your inside self, mimicking art on the outside of your body (or your face) and you are someone walking down the sidewalk, I have no issue with you or your appearance and would likely find you to be an awesome individual. On the other hand, if I only have 15 to 20 minutes to spend with you in a workplace atmosphere in person or on a video conference in which we’ll be discussing pay rates, job duties, abilities, etc., I do not have time to parse the mental overload that such a distraction creates, in order to figure out if you’re just fun-loving, carefree, or artsy, instead of disturbed and full of drama. I need to find out all I can in a brief discussion and that is hard in any circumstance. Now with Zoom and Teams as a “new” interviewing method there are even more distractions. Am I on mute? Oh my gosh does my hair really look like that? Can she see that I have on bedroom slippers? (and on and on)
Moving on, does this mean that people with face tattoos or ear gauges distract me, too? Honestly, the answer is no. I am seasoned and feel I am really good at looking beyond the outside so I can get right to the meat of whether or not this person has all the skills necessary for the job at hand. Afterall, this is what I do!
So, I ask myself, “Why am I having such a hard time seeing the workplace potential of this one person?” Is it because of my own bias that she is wearing too much makeup? I have no clue, but I do know we all have our own personal biases whether we want to admit it or not. We can consider ourselves PC, cool, or unique, but somewhere, lurking in each of us is something distracting. We might not even know what it is in ourselves. I do know all I could think of during this job interview was that this candidate for hire should probably be auditioning to appear in Pagliacci instead of interviewing for this job position.
So, what is the purpose of this whole story?
For that one instance, when you are about to interview (if you are a person who likes to express yourself outwardly) take that one moment to express your desire for the job in which you are applying more. This is the long-winded version of simply a reminder - if you want, or even need a job bad enough, try to show that on the outside. I promise you won’t be considered a sellout. You may, however, be able to afford more make-up to continue expressing yourself once you get the job.
