Image Matters : To Get Those Few Good Jobs, One Must Dress for the Part

When your boss starts talking layoffs and a major job hunt looms, don’t groan. Groom.

Instead of gnashing your teeth, polish them. Instead of gnawing your nails, manicure them. Instead of pulling your hair, perm it.

With so many good people prowling for so few good jobs, image matters more than ever these days. It’s dress for success in the extreme--you need the right socks, the right shoes, even the right umbrella to make it.

Or so the image industry contends.

“In this competitive age, average doesn’t get you anywhere,” warns California Image Advisors of Newport Beach. “You have to look the part,” said a makeup whiz at Illusions Artistry, a consulting firm in Los Angeles. “That’s what success is all about.”

In image-conscious Los Angeles, such convictions are nothing new. This city has spawned all manner of spin doctors, from personal trainers to personal shoppers to personal color coordinators.

But tough times have given the image-shaping business new urgency. Consultant Eve Michaels Halpert estimates that more than a third of her clients come to her specifically asking for a make-over that will help them reel in new work. That’s a dramatic shift from a few years ago, when she catered mainly to professionals and entertainers already safely locked into jobs.

Halpert’s new focus has landed her contracts with companies that now offer image tinkering along with resume writing and other career-boosting classes.

And the demands for image tweaking among unemployed executives are “increasing every month, absolutely,” Halpert said.

In a tight job market, unemployed business people “do tend to turn more and more to image consultants,” agrees Rosita Odom, founder of Business Images in Los Angeles.

The trend started with the recent recession, when consolidations, mergers and the ubiquitous downsizings pushed executives and engineers out of work. Middle-aged, with dusty resumes and rusty wardrobes, many were boggled by the concept of prospecting for employment.

Enter image consultants, primed with their seductive pitches.

“I’ve got to believe it’s going to help,” said San Pedro resident Ralph Sepanski, 53, who recently consulted an image crafter after losing his job as plant manager of a manufacturing firm.

Sepanski has decided to spend a some of his severance pay on a self-sprucing: manicures to rid his nails of grit, custom-made shirts to cover his long arms. He’s even planning to spring for a $75 color analysis. Anything to pump up his chances of landing new employment.

*

“The tougher it is out there to get a job, the more they’re willing to listen,” said Halpert, who runs an Agoura Hills consulting business called Enhancements. “They know they need the competitive edge.”

To give her clients that edge, Halpert first picks them apart. She once told a young man to replace his flimsy wedding band with a more substantial model. She directed another to trim his ear hairs.

A baby-faced man received instructions to add a touch of “distinguished gray” to his temples. Most clients, men and women, walk away from the consultations with instructions on tackling their own closets. Wear Suit No. 1 with Tie No. 3 and Shirt No. 6 to project an assertive look. Substitute Tie No. 4 for a team-player appearance. Never, ever wear Scarf No. 8 with Dress No. 2.

“Whatever it takes,” Halpert said.

Skeptics point out that it takes much more than well-matched clothes to land a good job. Cover letters and resumes must snag a recruiter’s interest. And no matter how shallow the corporate culture, experience and education--who knows, even talent--must carry some clout in the hiring process.

“You can have the most polished teeth in the world, but no one’s going to see that on your resume,” said Daniel Lauber, author of several “Job Finder” guides.

Another problem: Image consultants themselves often disagree on what constitutes appropriate professional garb.

Odom orders her clients to eliminate black from their work wardrobes. “It’s for funerals,” she scoffs.

But Dianna Pfaff-Martin of California Image Advisors takes a different view. “Black is the highest socioeconomic color,” she said. “Think of the black limousine, the black tuxedo, the black cocktail dress. . . . To direct people, your strongest color combination is black and white.”

Such professional spats point up yet another potential pitfall with image consulting: Every workplace has a unique personality. A black cocktail dress may work in some trendy offices, while a black sweat suit could be acceptable in others. And, if Odom is right, some offices might shun black altogether.

Despite the obvious variations between an advertising firm and a Wall Street brokerage, image consultants insist that corporate America shares some common rules. Especially for job-seekers.

*

Indeed, from her post as president of the Assn. of Executive Search Consultants, a group of corporate headhunters, Sheila Avrin McLean has noted marked consistency among her clients: “They like people who look good.”

By law, employers cannot discriminate based on race, gender, religion or disability. But nothing stops them from turning away an applicant in baggy jeans--or in an ill-fitting, old-fashioned suit.

Recruiters acknowledge that appearances matter.

“It’s just incredible how people look when they come into this arena,” said Bruce Arden, who recently interviewed dozens of candidates for an opening in Grubb & Ellis’ commercial real estate division.

“One woman came in with what my mother would call a housedress--a cotton thing with little lacy stuff on it. Virtually every man came in wearing a sport coat” instead of the requisite suit, Arden said.

Applicants wandering into the Apple One job placement firm in Beverly Hills are similarly misguided, manager Bobbi Gaffke said.

“You tell them they need to wear a suit, something really conservative, and they come in with an all-lace outfit that I would wear to a wedding,” she said with a groan. “Some (women) feel a corporate suit is one that has no back to it.”

A few sessions with an image consultant--at $65 to $100 a hour--and job-seekers will know better.

Winnetka resident Erick Lace, for example, learned that his curly locks expressed “a good Southern California look” but could block him from the upper echelons of corporate America. His clothes, too, were a little too comfortable for the climb up the corporate ladder.

“I was just devastated,” he said, “to find out everything that was wrong with me.”

On consultant Halpert’s advice, Lace straightened his hair and shaved a mustache he had worn for two decades. He also muted his blond, surfer-boy mop with a gentle dye job.

*

All told, Lace spent $750 on advice and maybe $3,000 more on clothes. He’s convinced the new look helped him land a job as human resources director at Crown Cable Television in Alhambra.

“Recruiters said I had the look they wanted,” Lace said. “They said that even before (they mentioned) my technical abilities, which I studied and worked hard for.”

To some extent, all make-overs involve role playing. Halpert urges her clients to dress not for their current job, but for a post several levels higher. If they want promotions, she said, they must look like they deserve them--like they could step right into the CEO’s office and take over.

“If they’re making $50,000 and want to make $100,000, or if they’re making $100,000 and want to make $200,000, I show them what it takes to look and feel the part,” she said.

Still, the dress-up game has its limits:

“I don’t change personalities,” Halpert said. “I just refine people.”