Bank dress code: "makeup will enhance your personality"

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/12/15/132078288/bank-dress-code-makeup-will-enhance-your-personality

by j_baker • 16 years ago

12 10 16 years ago

Jun82• 16 years ago

There should be a hacker-developer version of this, to be published in hex by Google.

Ideabolt: How about a startup that gives fashion tips for hackers? How to give off that "I'm intelligent and don't give a damn" feeling with gusto, what t-shirts to buy? What shoes does Sergei wear? Where does Steve gets his black turtlenecks, etc.

cafard• 16 years ago

Of course, the inverse has gone on for years. I remember a kid of 21 or so many years ago saying that he had supposed that women who wore makeup weren't very intelligent. I thought his amusing since a) it was essentially a class prejudice, and b) I doubted a young nerd's ability to distinguish makeup lightly applied.

brettbender• 16 years ago

While his statement was definitely prejudiced, don't you think assuming that 21-year-old nerds can't identify lightly applied makeup is also somewhat prejudicial?

t3chg1rl• 16 years ago

I am a long time lurker, but only just created a login here. I didn't think that this would be my first comment, but this sort of thing - advice for geeks - has been on my mind for awhile. I'm a geeky woman and have given my (mostly male, but female as well) geek friends advice over the years, on relationships and dating, dealing with being "the geek" in situations where that's not how you want to be seen, networking, and yes, how one looks. I'm a geek but my family was very business oriented, and I had to learn how to network and such at company events and gatherings at a fairly young age. I count myself lucky in this, while I have never really loved networking I do know how to do it and it is important. Looking at some of my friends I can see how I might have turned out had this not been the case. I have thought about creating a website like this, an advice site for geeks, but was unsure of my authority. My friends know my authority in this such as it is - I give good advice and they know my background. But random people on the internet? I'm just another person. Thoughts? Is authority important?

Jun82• 16 years ago

Authority is important in advice sites, esp. in fashion, I think. However, there are three aspects of this particular demographic that I think would make the job easier: (1) they are by their nature more or less anti-authority and anti-establishment, (2) AFAIK, there are no sites that do this sort of thing, and most importantly (3) we are much more connected (except, perhaps, for teenage girls) so word of mouth is very powerful.

The only thing that sort of comes close in fashion are sites such as Threadless, betabrand, etc., mostly geeky t-shirts. But no site for how to do the whole look.

What you are proposing, I think, is to take the idea even further, give advice on relationships, dealings with pointy haired bosses and so on. I think that would be great.

RiderOfGiraffes• 16 years ago

Perhaps they should consider a form of A/B testing. It's certainly true that people are strongly biased by looks, and like it or not, outside of the hacker world, where everything is (allegedly) based on ability, appearances really do matter.

People say it shouldn't be so, but it is. Recognising that and using it is a form of societal hacking.

CitizenKane• 16 years ago

Although UBS titled this document a dresscode it seems to be more like a dress handbook from the snippets that have been translated.

Overall I think it's an intriguing idea. I've known quite a few people (myself included) that have harmed peoples' perceptions of them simply by not appearing professional. I had used to think it would be a big burden on my time, but it's amazing what taking 5 - 10 minutes a day will do to improve your image.

Qz• 16 years ago

I have a friend who apparently never learned to make the 'th' sound, and just replaces it with the 'd' sound or at the end of words with the 'tch' sound. He runs his own business and does moderately well for himself, but I tend to find that speech habit very distracting and can only assume many of the people he does business with are the same. I've considered bringing it up to him as something he could improve on, but I haven't figured out a way to tell him that wouldn't sound horribly condescending.

pasbesoin• 16 years ago

Anyone have a non-Scribd copy (if permissible)?

P.S. When did "Don't" enter the French language (p 42)?

awongh• 16 years ago

Given that this is a document for the swiss division of ubs, I'm not really too surprised.

If hiring is any indication, I know that in France (not 100% sure specifically about Switzerland) it's pretty much required to submit a photo of yourself with any job application/CV. I think this is a good reflection of the kind of thought process that goes on in some workplaces.

If they think they can judge your worthiness for a given position by your appearance in a photo, I can only imagine the importance they put on daily dress at the office.

Bank dress code: "makeup will enhance your personality"

Related Stories