We recently had a young man complete six weeks of new hire training at our Couer D'Alene call center. Unlike his classmates who took full advantage of the company's rather casual dress code, this young man dressed in business attire throughout training. It wasn't until the newhire group graduated that the class realized this individual was a new agent just like them. They had all assumed he was their manager observing their performance in training - simply because of the way he was dressed!
ZZ Top reference aside, how we dress is quite important. I know we've grown up hearing things like "don't judge a book by it's cover" and "looks don't matter", but the reality is looks and dress do matter. People make judgements about us based on how we dress. The last thing we want is for our personal appearance or dress to be a distraction or detriment to how we are perceived in the organization.
In a career exploration class I facilitate we actually spend a lot of time talking about how to dress in the workplace. The adage about dressing for the job you want instead of the job you have makes total sense! And though it may seem superficial, one of the easiest things you can do to help yourself move up in an organization is to upscale your wardrobe.
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