I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. Most situations you encounter in everyday life are far more iterated than job interviews: you’ll only conduct a face-to-face interview once or twice for a given job, but you might go on a dozen dates with a potential partner before you enter into a serious relationship; you likely meet potential friends and contacts a few times a week; and you’ll meet with your coworkers almost every day for years. Even if optimizing your appearance adds little marginal advantage in any given situation, it adds up quickly, and I suspect that advantage can actually be fairly large in situations where there’s not much to go on except a first impression.
Actually, I’m not even sure it’s generally win-more in the context of technical job interviews. There your skills probably make the most difference, but it’s not uncommon for someone without much technical savvy to have veto power, making personal presentation something to satisfice if not to optimize: you can be the best engineer in the world, but that won’t matter if the hiring manager thinks you look like a bum. For non-technical jobs—especially anything managerial or customer- or public-facing, which are not at all uncommon—it can easily be a full-blown optimization objective.
Even if optimizing your appearance adds little marginal advantage in any given situation, it adds up quickly, and I suspect that advantage can actually be fairly large in situations where there’s not much to go on except a first impression.
I in general agree with this assessment. It does add up. But there might be an area where it doesn’t.
To give a concrete example: During school I avoided fashion, pop culture and socializing. I felt that it gained me nothing and take time away from my much more interesting subjects like math and (later) computer. Arrogantly I thought myself above this. Intentionally misunderstood jokes. Committed to be different. This made me an outsider during school (luckily without becoming subject to bullying). But it did allow me lots of time to study.
Only much later when my interests expanded to include evobiosociopsychology did I really grasp the effect. I believe that I have been a quick learner since. The only penalty that appears to be difficult to compensate is relations. I have only a small circle of acquaintances and I’m not sure I can (or want to) build it up. But I’m also not completely convinced that the business landscape requires this.
To end the example: Is it worthwile to focus ones skills on one area—an intellectual area that my promise to pay back with compound interest later—and to pick up other areas later (though possibly completely excluding some areas)? Or should one rather advance all areas at once (albeith possibly with different weight)? Or does it depend?
For me it was a most successful strategy so far—though it could have been just luck and chance.
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t. Most situations you encounter in everyday life are far more iterated than job interviews: you’ll only conduct a face-to-face interview once or twice for a given job, but you might go on a dozen dates with a potential partner before you enter into a serious relationship; you likely meet potential friends and contacts a few times a week; and you’ll meet with your coworkers almost every day for years. Even if optimizing your appearance adds little marginal advantage in any given situation, it adds up quickly, and I suspect that advantage can actually be fairly large in situations where there’s not much to go on except a first impression.
Actually, I’m not even sure it’s generally win-more in the context of technical job interviews. There your skills probably make the most difference, but it’s not uncommon for someone without much technical savvy to have veto power, making personal presentation something to satisfice if not to optimize: you can be the best engineer in the world, but that won’t matter if the hiring manager thinks you look like a bum. For non-technical jobs—especially anything managerial or customer- or public-facing, which are not at all uncommon—it can easily be a full-blown optimization objective.
I in general agree with this assessment. It does add up. But there might be an area where it doesn’t.
To give a concrete example: During school I avoided fashion, pop culture and socializing. I felt that it gained me nothing and take time away from my much more interesting subjects like math and (later) computer. Arrogantly I thought myself above this. Intentionally misunderstood jokes. Committed to be different. This made me an outsider during school (luckily without becoming subject to bullying). But it did allow me lots of time to study.
Only much later when my interests expanded to include evobiosociopsychology did I really grasp the effect. I believe that I have been a quick learner since. The only penalty that appears to be difficult to compensate is relations. I have only a small circle of acquaintances and I’m not sure I can (or want to) build it up. But I’m also not completely convinced that the business landscape requires this.
To end the example: Is it worthwile to focus ones skills on one area—an intellectual area that my promise to pay back with compound interest later—and to pick up other areas later (though possibly completely excluding some areas)? Or should one rather advance all areas at once (albeith possibly with different weight)? Or does it depend?
For me it was a most successful strategy so far—though it could have been just luck and chance.