The New Professional Image: From Business Casual to the Ultimate Power Look
Author: Susan Bixler, Nancy Nix-Rice
List Price: $12.95
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 1558507299
Publisher: Adams Media Corporation (May, 1997)
Sales Rank: 13,409
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 3 out of 5
Okay, but nothing new here...
It seems that in our ever-increasingly casual society, we have lost some of our common sense when dressing for the office. This book has no surprises - there are no hidden secrets for compiling a work wardrobe - if we put a bit of thought into it, I'm sure most people could determine on their own that belly tops, sandals, frayed jeans, see-through blouses and poor grooming are potentially career-limiting moves.The information in this book is pretty basic. Save your money - you can probably get this quality of advice from Mom - for free.
Rating: 5 out of 5
The ultimate guide to looking your best...
If you are looking for a comprehensive guide to making a positive impact through appearance, this is your book. I am a recruiter with a Fortune 100 company in the US, and a professional image consultant recommended this book to me when I originally began my position. As a person who was looking for solid guidelines around professional dressing, as well as a reference for others who are looking to improve their appearance, I have found no other book to be comparable.There are many aspects which make this book such an important resource for professionals:
1. The author provides specific guidelines around what items should be in a professional wardrobe, even going as far as to outline what quantities are particularly helpful of each piece of clothing.
2. The book is filled with "before and after" pictures, which allow the reader to see first-hand how the author's recommendations can make a startling appearance alteration.
3. To reflect the variety of workplace formality levels, there are six levels of workplace dress covered in the chapters. For those people who work for companies that have never successfully defined "Casual Friday", this book gives a lot of great hints of how to dress casual but still remain professional.
4. Two separate chapters outline accessories and generic grooming guidelines, and I have only found those hints in this particular guideline book.
5. For people looking to improve their wardrobe on a limited budget or a first job out of school, the author does not suggest spending a fortune on designer clothing. Rather, she suggests some key pieces to acquire first, and then others that can be obtained after your finances begin to improve.
Overall, I see the negative impact every day in my position from candidates who do not make the extra effort to go from "dressing up" to "looking professional". I strongly suggest that you make the $15 investment in this book, since it could help you to acquire the high paying career of your dreams!
Rating: 5 out of 5
An essential part of a working wardrobe.
This book is an excellent guide to dressing for the workplace regardless of where you work. I especially liked the sections on business casual (for both men and women). This section helped me to see that, though I am a manager in my firm, I was dressing like the delivery man. There are so many options for dressing these days and dress has become so casual that we lose sight of the impact that our clothing has on others and the subtle signals we send. The authors do an excellent job of demonstrating how important dress is, especially for women. And, it doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to dress well, it just takes conscious buying and this book as your guide. If you feel like you are not making the impact at work and maybe in your life that you would like to make, get this book. Perhaps your appearance is sending a different message. Similar Products
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Book Index