Cut and polish your career

New Year resolution - a makeover of your career. JULIE MIDDLETON meets the people who can help you to make a difference.

THE IMAGE CONSULTANT

Yes, she will go through your wardrobe and put redundant garments in a black rubbish bag.

If you're a long-time client, she'll even go shopping for clothes for you.

Sharon Ellem-Bell, 40, is the person to see when your wardrobe just isn't working for your career. But image consultancy isn't about style over substance, despite research by Glasgow's Strathclyde University that shows the "aesthetic economy" is growing. Increasingly, bosses are selecting staff for looks over skills.

"People come to me because they have substance," says Ellem-Bell, a former model who turned her knowledge of the industry into an image consultancy in 1987, and now works between Auckland and Christchurch.

"It's just that they have realised that they may not have quite the right image to make that first impression to get them in the door," she says. "Where I'm working is in the first 30 seconds."

That people form unshakeable first impressions in a couple of seconds is a fact, says Ellem-Bell, and the challenge is "brand management of yourself. If you don't like the look of a product, it doesn't sell".

And fond deference to the she'll-be-right attitude is not good enough in an export-led country.

What value, she asks, is the outfit you're wearing? And how much do you spend on clothes every year? "Most people have no idea."

Chances are, she says, you're tucking a tidy sum into your wardrobe, a sum that in cash form would probably be invested after financial advice.

A first, personal appointment with an image consultant like Ellem-Bell is usually an image analysis - where you would like your image to be, and how you might get there.

The questions are practical: does the amount of travelling you do make easy-care, non-crease clothes imperative?

Do you need help to hide some figure flaws? What styles, colours, fabrics are going to work best for you, the work you do and where you do it?

The second appointment is often a wardrobe clear-out. Briefed, and ruthless with it, Ellem-Bell sorts through, allowing a few "emotional" but no-longer-worn pieces to stay. Out are garments that don't fit, need mending, or are out of date.

Unsuitables go into the black bag for plunder by friends and relatives or charities such as Dress for Success, which provides work clothes for job-seeking unemployed women.

With the client's budget in mind - "everyone has a price point" - advice on the best clothes and where to get them comes next.

In general, people notice the negatives about others' appearances, she says, and grooming - skin, hands, nails, hair - is still the number one issue for both men and women.

Ellem-Bell is often asked to emphasise this when employed by companies to give a pep-talk to their staff.

Women are more likely to be let down by their shoes - scuffed and with "driver's heel". Or strappy cocktail shoes with a suit, or "bedroom hair and a very serious suit".

And even more injurious to the serious corporate image: sheer shirts and distracting cleavage.

The latter is another issue that companies often ask Ellem-Bell to bring up gently - most males aren't as honest as high-level public servant Mark Prebble, who admitted his discomfort in the face of a voluptuous Christine Rankin.

In the annals of fashion faux pas, says Ellem-Bell, men are more likely to bear untidy eyebrows, dirty glasses, dirt under their fingernails, and shoes in need of a shine or run down at the heel.

Many a long-suffering woman will agree with Ellem-Bell's assertion that men keep clothes well past their use-by dates, oblivious to a tatty shirt collar that leaps out and smacks observers in the eye.

"Women may keep old clothes, but won't wear them," she observes. "But a new suit needs a new shirt."

THE CAREER COACH

The executive slumped in the armchair opposite career coach Mike Dent looks washed out.

The Manukau City-based head of an American-based company, he works in an open-plan office as decreed by company culture.

But he's finding constant interruptions so distracting that he has made a habit of taking his work to the Koru Club at Auckland airport - the pre-flight business lounge - to get a couple of hours of peace.

Another Auckland executive confesses that he just can't leave work until 6.45 pm because everyone else works until late.

The common factor: both have sought help from Dent, aged 55. And with his help, both found solutions and a new enthusiasm for work.

When you stop having fun at the office because you're lacking motivation or have a specific problem, it's time to engage a coach, says Aucklander Dent.

But coaching isn't just about redressing negatives. It's also a way to give your career a general polish and boost. The corporate achiever needs a coach alongside, just as an Olympic athlete does.

The number one complaint Dent does hear from clients is friction with the boss, followed by perplexing underachievement. Stress bunnies are often referred by family doctors.

Dent, who charges $85 an hour and works from his Remuera home, says his major role, at least initially, is to listen.

But he'll ask questions to get you thinking: How's your motivation? Energy levels? Is there an area you'd like to learn about? How are you communicating with those you're managing?

Closing the gaps requires the client and Dent to work out goals, record them, and write a 13-week plan to reach them. Clients sign it off - and from that moment Dent holds them accountable for progress.

Goals may differ - anything from taking a de-stressing massage once a month to moving up the career ladder - but everyone gets homework.

The Koru lounger's homework was to weigh up what could be changed about his situation. An office was out of the question. But a small desk-top flag became his sanity-saver: the flag atop its pole was the sign its owner could be approached. If down, he was not to be disturbed.

The late-leaving manager was told to abandon his desk at 6.15 pm, park around the corner and observe. All his staff left as soon as he had - the whole company had got into a can't-leave-before-the-boss mentality which turned into a vicious circle.

It all seems commonsense - so why can't people work out solutions for themselves?

Dent says most of us live in comfort zones defined by "learned behaviour" and need help to step back. Doing the homework requires self-discipline: "Getting out of the comfort zone is the hard part."

Dent comes from a corporate background, with 14 years in buying and general merchandise for Foodtown supermarkets and a partnership in a bakery.

He switched to coaching after becoming interested in why some people were successful and why others shot themselves in the foot, and backed his interest with university study and counselling training.

But as anyone can set up as a counsellor, he recommends careful screening. Ask these questions:

* Which professional organisation do you belong to? (Best answers: the Career Practitioners' Association of New Zealand, the International Coaching Federation.)

* What is your coaching philosophy?

* Do you have supervision?

* Do you offer a free session so each party can check compatibility? (The first consultation should be a free half-hour at least.)

* What coaching package do you have?

* What would the first couple of sessions involve?

* What can I expect from you in our ongoing relationship?

* How long do clients usually work with you?

* How do you handle confidentiality?

* Have you ever unsuccessfully coached anyone? What happened?

* Can I speak with clients to get their impressions?


Next week: The 'presence tutor', the mentor and the rival.