Computer Geeks Dress for Success
by July 8, 2002 12:00 am 68 views
Goodbye Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts; hello ties and slacks.
Groovy business-casual clothing, or less, was the uniform du jour for information technology workers during the 1990s. But just as the market now demands IT operations to make money, competition for jobs has forced candidates to also dress the part.
RHI Consulting, an international provider of project and full-time IT professionals with a Fayetteville office, surveyed 1,400 chief information officers nationwide about the subject.
Forty percent of the CIOs said professional appearance is “very important” when interviewing job candidates. Only one in 10 said it’s not a critical factor.
Craig Olson, RHI Consulting’s Tulsa branch manager, said dot-com bombs have forced IT candidates to work hard to woo employers. But Gary Cooper, vice president of information systems at Tyson Foods Inc., he still values aptitude.
“Certainly, I believe that professional image is important,” Cooper said. “However … A suit and tie does not always impress as intended. I recall a few years ago interviewing a candidate who had a sucker stuck to the back of his suit.
“I don’t recall if we hired him or not.”
John Cole, owner of Walker Brothers Dry Goods in Fayetteville, said the dress-up trend is not just limited to IT workers. Suit, sport coat and dress trouser sales have taken off lately, Cole said.
“With the perception of a down economy, business people want to be seen at their best,” Cole said. “We had a banker in the other day who said, ‘I’m tired of looking like the guy who I buy my golf clubs from. I want to look like a banker again.'”
CHART
Dress IT Up
RHI Consulting asked 1,400 chief information officers nationwide, “How important is a professional image, including attire and personal grooming, when interviewing candidates for IT positions within your department?” Here’s what the CIOs said:
Very important 48 percent
Somewhat important 40 percent
Not at all 10 percent
No answer/Don’t know 2 percent
Source: RHI Consulting, a division of Robert Half International Inc.