A stone in a stream can change the course of a river! A first unfavourable impression produced by dirty nails has turned many a boy and girl downward, who would otherwise have gone upward.

You cannot estimate the influence of your personal appearance. If it is good, you will advance rapidly. If it is bad, it will prove a handicap, and may, perhaps, prevent you from advancing at all.

A good appearance is at a premium everywhere. It is one of the most important factors in securing a situation, in holding it, and in getting an advance.

Most organisations make it a rule not to employ anyone who looks seedy, or slovenly, or who does not make a good appearance.

While the routine of application is in every case strictly adhered to, the fact remains that the most important element in an applicant’s chance for a trial is his personality. It means the total of you.

Neatness of dress, cleanliness of person and the manner are the things an employer notices first in a would-be employee. If his clothes are unbrushed, his trousers baggy, his shoes unpolished, his tie loose, his hands dirty, or his hair ruffled, the employer is biased at once.

He does not look beneath this repellent exterior to see whether it conceals merit or not. He takes it for granted that if the youth has anything in him, he will keep himself in a presentable condition.

He does not want to have such an unattractive-looking person about his premises; it would injure his own reputation and that of his organisation.

If the applicant is a girl, she is judged by the same principles that govern in the case of a young man.

If she applies for a position with the hair hanging in loops with rips and rents in her blouse, a button missing, or any evidence of slackness or slipshodness about her, she will get a shake or the head, not a nod!

Young people about to enter job should bear in mind that a pleasing personality and a good appearance are their best testimonial. It does not matter how honest or capable they may be, how good their intentions or how praiseworthy their ambition, they are judged largely by their appearance. If nature has not made you attractive, you can do it yourself.

The employers judge the qualifications of a person by the pains he takes in making his person and clothing as attractive as possible.

Everything about a man bespeaks his hidden character. He puts his personality into everything he does, no less than his work.

The world in general continues to judge a man’s merits largely by his appearance, and the sooner young people learn this, the better it will be for them. Shakespear says that the world is a stage. You have to play a part. Do it well.

Personal care shown in cleanliness and for neatness in dress also reflects extra carefulness in work done. People whose personal habits are slovenly produce slovenly work! Those who are careful of their own appearance are equally careful of the looks of the work they turn out.

The truth is that extra care about personal habits and general appearance is indicative of a certain alertness of mind. Discipline of the mind shows in dress and appearances.

Those who have failed in life might have been happy and prosperous today had they learned early in life the importance of a good appearance and manner.

Many on the downward path would have been climbing up in the world had they made a favourable impression when they first went to look for a position.

They did not realise that slackness in dress, lack in personal cleanliness, rudeness of manner could cost them dear.