Interviewing: it's a process of elimination

If you are interviewing for a new job you may think the employer's goal is to find the best candidate from all those who applied or sent in résumés. That is not the case. From the employers point of view they need to quickly weed out as many of the applicants as possible by whatever means necessary. 

Few interviewers have the time or inclination to sit through dozens of long interviews trying to figure out which prospective employee is the best. Rather they eliminate candidates based on dress, promptness, neatness, grooming, first impressions, and an infinite array of other seemingly minute details. 

Here is where you must do your part to insure you make the short list of interviewees that the employer will spend some time with. If you have a weird hairstyle or a nose ring, now is the time to make a change. The more professional you look, the more likely you are to get through this process of elimination. 

It doesn't seem fair that employers are going to be judging you based on these surface issues, but it is a fact of life and the sooner you realize this the better. This same concept holds true if you are meeting new clients, making a sales pitch, or even going out on a first date. In other words, when there is nothing to object to, people will take time to get to know the real you.