Today I went shopping for an interview outfit. I hate the feeling when you don't know what to wear. It happens to me so rarely that it always throws me off when I experience it. It takes me back to my awkward teenage years when I had to wear my sister's hand me downs that were so not me and I never felt quite at home in my own skin. Since becoming a mum I have rarely had to dress up for work. I worked from home for years and had one or two outfits suitable for when I had to go into the office for a meeting. In my most recent job, I had a uniform which I loved the simplicity of. I didn't have to think about what to wear at all during the week and for me that was bliss. I think if I end up starting my own business, I'm definitely going to make myself a work uniform.
I do like clothes, I just don’t own a whole lot and I actually have an interview tomorrow and suddenly freaked out a bit that I didn't have anything to wear. I live in a small town and when it comes to shopping there are limited options. Covid means that all fitting rooms here are closed and so I keep buying clothes that don't fit and then I have to go back and return or exchange them. I lucked out today though and with the help of my daughters managed to buy an interview worthy outfit at good ol' TKMaxx. Embarrassingly the people who work there now know me so well we always have a little chat. It really is one of the few clothes shops in this small town.
It's weird how trying on my interview outfit actually made me feel more professional. I have no idea how clothes have the ability to change the way we feel, and maybe it's just me, but I definitely feel different if I'm wearing something that I feel comfortable and confident in. I read a book called Dressing Your Truth a few years ago (it used to be free on Kindle) and it totally changed the way I dress and think about clothes. My family all make fun of me for it, but I do feel better when I "dress my truth" even though I doubt it's going to make any difference to how the interview actually goes.
So tomorrow I'll test out my interview outfit and my interview skills. I've had one interview in the last 16 years that wasn't an informal one with people I already knew. One. For a job I didn't get. I wore heels because I forgot that I don't wear heels for a reason and my feet hurt so badly by the time I'd climbed four flights of stairs and navigated a hallway tottering along while all I wanted to do was take off my shoes and run away.
I'm going into this interview, in a comfortable outfit (no heels this time), with an open mind and I'm going to see where it takes me. Either way I'm going to learn something. I've already learned that not knowing what to wear causes me stress and I HATE filling in application forms that basically ask for the exact same information that's on your CV, just re-typed with some extra bits and a weird personal profile bit at the bottom asking for my sexual orientation, ethnicity, age and religion. Perhaps my name will get me in, maybe it will become one of the questions on the application forms, do you identify as a Karen? And hopefully my outfit won't be too Karen-esque.
Comments