Applicants may be thinking “show me the money,” but recruiters are thinking “show me your shoes”! The Great American Shoe Survey just reported a large percentage of hiring managers check out applicants’ footwear as a reflection of their appropriateness for a job.
The new study from men’s business and casual shoemaker from Allen Edmonds indicates that potential bosses are looking at shoes much more critically than young men are, which might have some frustrating consequences for male jobseekers.
Survey results say 80 percent of hiring managers reported that shoes are “extremely important,” to one’s interview appearance, but only 51 percent of young men say they wear appropriate shoes to interviews.
Hiring managers indicated that shoes are more indicative of a man’s attention to detail, confidence, and business culture fit than attire.
Males seem to be fussier about shoes than women; 44 percent of male executives think young men wear appropriate shoes in business formal settings, while 54 percent of female interviews thought so.
The good news in the study was that 80 percent of executive men and 69 percent of young professional men prefer to have their shoes made in the U.S.A.