How style can win you a top job
What you wear and how you present yourself is often as important as your grades. Sophie Morris reports
Published: 19 April 2007
Think Milan, and you think of Armani, Dolce & Gabbana and Versace - fabulous dresses, towering stilettos and lots of leopard print. The Italian city is synonymous with high fashion, but MBA students there are having difficulty translating their haute couture heritage into job-winning interview attire. Cinzia Felicetti, a former editor-in-chief of Italian Cosmopolitan and successful image consultant, has come to their rescue. Her "Dress to Impress" workshop at SDA Bocconi is designed to tempt potentially high-flying business students out of their jeans and into top positions around the world.
The problem, explains Marliù Ortini, Bocconi's career development service director, was identified by international companies such as Lehman Brothers, who regularly recruit the university's MBA students. "They told us that our students are brilliant and competitive, but sometimes they don't present themselves very well. It isn't just a matter of dress, but of attitude and behaviour too."
Ortini held the one-day workshop in January. The majority of Bocconi's 130 students attended and discovered they have their work cut out at interview - according to Felicetti, people make their first impressions in just seven seconds. She warned students to steer clear of the big hair, red lipstick and fur coats one expects to see strutting down Milan's Via Montenapoleone, because "glamour is not the same as style".
The easiest way to make a winning first impression, according to Felicetti, is to choose an icon who is in the public eye, and model yourself on him or her. The Ferrari president and FIAT chairman Luca Cordero Montezemolo is a strong role model. "He is a very positive example," says Ortini, "because when you think of him, you don't remember the suit he was wearing, but you do remember that he was a very elegant and stylish person, and you retain a very positive impression of him".
Image isn't everything, though, stresses Bocconi's academic director Valter Lazzari. Substance is imperative too. "If you don't have the substance you don't go anywhere, and I was quite suspicious about the initiative at first. Then I realised that it was an important thing for interviews, because first impressions stick, and dressing is a part of that."
"While an MBA has to be accurate, he also has to convince others that he is accurate, which is a much more difficult job. Giulio Andreotti used to say, 'It is not important to be right, it is important that other people think you are right'." For those unfamiliar with Italian politics, seven times Prime Minister of Italy and life senator Andreotti was convicted of murder and accused of having ties to the mafia several years ago, but managed to overturn all charges and convictions and reprise his successful political career - certainly someone of a persuasive nature.
Milan's students aren't the only ones in need of a few fashion tips. Over in Monaco, MBA students can take a series of electives in luxury goods management. It doesn't take an MBA genius to work out that if you're looking for a job at, for example, Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Swarovski or Lamborghini, then your style and presentation skills must be in the same league as your clients' and colleagues'. Accordingly, the International University of Monaco is planning a three-day seminar offering instruction on colour and style, and how to dress according to the culture and country you find yourself in.
Tessa Hood, a leading brand consultant who works with students at Leeds Business School, says the whole package comes down to employability.
Surveys carried out by the Association of Graduate Recruiters in 2005 and 2006 worryingly revealed that half of chief executives in the UK found the majority of their graduate intake were unable to interact well with their clients and colleagues.
The so-called "soft skills" which Milan, Monaco and Leeds are instilling in their students last well beyond the interview. Impeccable presentation - no bitten-down nails or scuffed shoes - and a convincing manner, work together to persuade employers you are also a proficient networker and team worker.
This focus on how to adapt to dress requirements in other countries is particularly astute. A desk job in London may require regular business trips abroad, increasingly to China and India. "Never ever visit a customer in Asia without a jacket, warns Mike Narodovich, a Shanghai-based director of a large technology firm, who has worked across Asia. "Customers should be dressed up for interview to show them respect."
In Japan, it's a different story. "Japanese dress the best because they somehow mix the über-conservativeness of their culture with personal flair," says Narodovich. "I'll never forget walking in Tokyo to see young employees in dark suits with a blue streak through their hair and a radical tie."
Though the income gap remains a problem for Chinese applicants, they are definitely making moves to catch up in the style stakes, and Tsinghua School of Economics and Management now runs a management programme in fashion and luxury. Milan and Monaco should watch out: as major brands - including Burberry this month - ship their manufacturing processes out to China, no doubt Chinese graduates will begin to dress for this market.
Back to number-crunching: a £400 suit may seem a large outlay before you've nailed that 50k basic, but the investment will keep on paying dividends long after the cuffs have begun to fray.
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