Advice on How to Rock the Interview from Glamour’s Editor-in-Chief

April 23, 2014

 Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images North America

In the April issue of Glamour, Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive spells out six things she looks for in a job candidate. As a woman who has interviewed hundreds of people over the years, she has some sharp insights to share, one of which always bears repeating.

You look pulled together.
I recently interviewed a candidate during one of New York City’s epic 2014 snowstorms. It was a hellish, mascara-smearing kind of day, so I would have forgiven my job applicant five minutes’ lateness and a wet head of hair. And yet there she was, 15 minutes early, perfectly dry, and in heels. I don’t know at what ungodly hour she’d had to leave home, or what bathroom she’d cleaned up in, but her message was clear: She was a pro, and she wanted the job. Which she got. And about clothes: They matter. No borderline-casual outfits, no tube tops (seen it, I swear), no tiny minis! Do you really want your interviewer’s takeaway to be “She had excellent waxing skills”?

Read all of Cindi’s advice here, and check out our pieces on interview outfits, how to dress for a job in media, and how to dress for a job in law.