I don’t know if “hard” is really the right term. Certainly guessing correctly on Day 1 can be difficult, and maybe trying to figure out what to wear for the initial interview can be tough, but generally you know what to expect after a week at the job site.
I’m a consultant myself and my general rule of thumb is that being over-dressed is far, far easier to correct than being under-dressed. You can always take off your coat and tie, but you can’t turn your jeans and sneakers into a suit.
Moreover, dressing appropriately for your job is a skill that you can ignore or cultivate like any other workplace skill – be it writing well, coding in Ruby, arriving on time, knowing how to operate a forklift, or having a firm handshake. Depending on your workplace, the effort you put into dressing appropriately may or may not translate into promotions, raises, better chemistry with your team, better chemistry with your boss, etc.
In my job, I manage a fair number of people and I interact with a VERY large and diverse number of people. A surprisingly large part of my job is to convince people that I am competent, serious, a strong leader, and worth listening to. I’d like to think that I could make a case for all of those no matter what I dressed like, but I’ve found that I can significantly reduce the work I have to do to make that case if I simply make a good first external impression.
The young woman Busbecq speaks of below made the opposite choice. She chose to handicap herself with attire that did not make a good impression, so she had to work harder to do the same job. Anyone have a link to the article? I vaguely remember the case, I think, but it’s a little fuzzy.
OK, for those people like me who don’t know what the hell “EGL” is and are (rightfully) afraid to Google it, I took the chance: “Elegant Gothic Lolita” seems to be the source of the acronym.
