Well Groomed?
Life, Watched November 16th, 2007Since I only have one more exam to go, it means it’s time to start thinking about getting a holiday job for the next few months. I’m mainly looking for office jobs relating to law, e.g. being a paralegal or legal clerk. There seems to be a number that looks like good potentials, yet I’m worried about a common perquisite that many of the ads have.
It’s the need to be “well groomed”, “immaculately presented” or something of the sorts. What the hell does that mean?
I mean, I brush my hair and my teeth daily and I don’t reek of body odour (I hope!). At the office I currently work at weekly (unpaid internship at a small solicitor’s office) I wear officey clothes, like collared shirts and work pants. For the days I have to attend court, I wear a suit. Is that “well groomed” enough? What’s your definition of well groomed/immaculately presented?
I’m worried that it means having to have manicures, styled hair and/or worst of all, makeup. I hate the idea of slabbing crap on my face, it’s so damn uncomfortable (and expensive). Not to mention having to learn how to do it properly. Do you think it’s something you ask an interviewer about, e.g. “what does your company require in terms of well-groomedness” or is that something you’re supposed to just know?
I watched Dune yesterday night with Tim. What an excruciatingly long and convoluted movie! Ugh the bad acting and stupid plot just killed my brain.
15 Responses to “Well Groomed?”
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For me, being “well groomed,” is being nice, and presentable, without being over the top. For example, as far as make-up goes, I generally reserve it for going out and being trampy. If I’m going to work, I just wear a bit of brown eye-liner, and lip gloss. I make sure my face is clean and moisturized, and that my hair is clean and bright looking. The clothes you describe seem fine enough for an office job! I think, unless you’re working for a fashion magazine, the general idea is to have semi-formal clothes, and a basic look. You don’t want to look too outrageous, but you don’t want to look frumpy either. I think the main reason people include “well groomed,” in their adverts are to show that they do follow a business casual dress code, and to ward off riffraff.
Um… clean?
You’re groomed well enough. :D But you said something about being “well-groomed/immaculately presented” and there’s a difference between that and looking fine/nice enough. To me, “well-groomed” for adult ladies includes: make-up, manicures, nice hair, and nice clothes.
Make-up. Make-up and I are newly acquainted. I’m not really a fan, and I don’t wear a lot of it. I never wore it to class, but I wear it to work. I wear it to work because it makes me look more professional and sometimes prettier. A little mascara, some eyeshadow (maybe), and a bit of lip gloss never hurt anyone.
Manicure. I hate looking at hands with dirty and unkempt nails. Trimming one’s nails and keeping them clean isn’t the same as getting a manicure but a manicure always helps (it should never be required though). I had my first one not too long ago. I didn’t want to go, and thought that I would hate it, but it wasn’t bad.
Nice Hair. As long as it’s neat, it should be fine. My hair is really bad, I feel as though I must get it styled. Unless, I cut it all of it off and start over with an Afro-look, salon visits are a must for me. That sounds terrible and conceited, but I can’t think of any woman with my type of hair (African-ish hair) who doesn’t have it professionally styled. I also doubt that my employer would be thrilled with a decision to go natural on my part… because it won’t look neat (at least not for a few years).
Nice Clothes. Clothes with-out stains, a collar maybe. That’s fine.
Being pretty is so important. :X I hate it because I’m not very pretty. I have hair that’s of the devil, and teeth that aren’t straight (the bane of my existence, I assure you). Now I have to work hard at looking nice and it just sucks… because it’s expensive. A tiny thing of eyeshadow (one color) costs $20; a manicure is $35; a dressy sweater/shirt costs at least $45+; if I do what I’m supposed to with my hair then that’s $100/month … I just want to die. But I have to look after my appearance, because people are judgmental and the it’s-what-inside-that-counts battle is just not one I want to fight right now.
Because I generally associate the use of make-up with hookers and those obsessed with their appearance, I’m more inclined to say that make-up doesn’t = well-groomed.
Well-groomed to me simply means not smelling offensive and not looking like you just rolled out of bed and are still in something resembling PJs.
I think how you’ve described yourself is a perfect example of well-groomed actually! :)
It depends on the type of job. For a cosmetics store then sure, well-groomed means make-up. But for an office job, does thick foundation mean better productivity? I doubt it. In that case, collared shirts and pants, clean and tidy, and I believe that would be the definition of “well-groomed” and “immaculately presented”.
Good luck with your last exam and job searching. :)
X_X;; If I ever get a job where they tell me to wear make up and it’s only like a desk job instead of some cosmetic store job, I ain’t working there. I think as long as someone has brushed/combed/clean hair, nice, professional looking clothes/shoes, and clean nails, I frankly don’t give a damn as long as the person doesn’t look like a whore in the process either.
Thank goodness, that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about at my current job… working with children, especially under the age of six means wear jeans and stuff. XD
Agree with Tara; any job that required me to wear make-up better damn well be making their male employees wear it too, else I don’t want to work there. I’m prepared to shower, clean my teeth, brush my hair and wear clean, smart clothes. Though I do think ‘well groomed’ and ‘immaculately presented’ are slightly different things; the latter really does seem like the sort of place to want make-up and all that nonsense.
Then again, being in IT I’m notoriously scruffy (I think I lasted wearing ‘work clothes’ to work for about eight months; one day ‘Casual Friday’ turned into ‘Casual Everyday’ and I actually found it easier to interact with some of our contractors, so the look stayed… er, not that I really recommend this to, well, anyone really).
Also; Dune is epic fail. Mat and I still make jokes about the cat taped to the rat in the milking device. Boo, David Lynch, boo!
I don’t think ‘well-groomed’ necessarily means wearing make-up. Just looking clean, neat, tidy and presentable. Reading the above comments made me a little puzzled: do you all believe that wearing make-up has to include plastering on foundation and mascara? Personally, I don’t wear it unless I’m going to a place where I want them to know I made the extra effort with my appearance. There isn’t anything wrong with it though and , unlike Nellie, I definitely don’t associate it with ‘hookers’ and those who are ‘obsessed with their appearance’.
Good luck on the hunt though! :D
What you already do sounds groomed enough to me! I doubt I’d be ever to do more than that when I start working, I just don’t put effort into things like that. I don’t know why it’s expected to spend a lot of time and money on makeup, manicures, and so on.
“Well-groomed” I’m guessing is another word for “we have dress code and please know what soap is”.
You sound way more well-groomed than most people. I don’t think companies could ever require you to wear make-up unless you’re working at a make-up store or a fashionable boutique or something.
I used to work at a bank where they required you to be well-groomed. What that meant was jackets and/or a shirt with a collar, pants that are not khakis or jeans, and if you wear a skirt, pantyhose. I thought the last one was pushing it. Regardless, this fits with what you wear, so I think you’re fine.
I’m agreeing that what you wear currently sounds like “well groomed”. I think I need clothes like that in case I ever go out for a job someday… so hard to find for me, too. Ack! Grown-up clothes!
Off topic completely, remember that craft blog you were going to set up? Whatever happened to it?
Well, after your exam maybe. But Belinda, you got tagged.
Dune was definitely one of the most irritating films I’ve ever seen; the book may have been dense, but the movie was just … blah. Completely subverted what my class imagined … but anyway.
I’m with you on that broad definition of being “well-groomed”; looking neat and suiting whatever kind of circumstance is at hand. Cosmetics don’t necessarily mean well-groomed.
Hm, I think they just want you to look presentable. They might assess whether or not you fit the company’s image. I’d cover up any dark circles under the eyes, even out skin tone, put some nude lip gloss on (just for a little extra shine), and tie your hair up into a neat ponytail and oh yeah, clean nails :) I think that’s well groomed enough.