Dressing for that job interview

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Express for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

We all know how tough it is to get that elusive job interview but how does one dress for it? Should a person dress like an executive when they are applying for a shipping dock job? The answer to that is easier for men than women.

Women have a lot more choices when it comes to how to dress for an interview. They have options from casual dresses to women's suits. Now this photo shows how nice a women can look for an interview in a suit, providing they are as skinny as the model in the photo. The suit is from Express.

Let's face it most of us are not in that shape. Or if we are then affording a suit like that is often prohibitive. Now I have  some good news, Express is having a contest to give away a $500 makeover. You can find out more about it at the Express sweepstakes page.

Now you tell me, how would you dress for that interview? If you are a women, would you dress casual but dressy or would you go with a formal yet feminine suit? I would also like to hear from my male readers, how would you dress for an interview? I know of several men who tell me that how they dress depends on the job they are applying for. Many of them refuse to dress up for a blue collar job. They think that clean blue jeans and a dress shirt is enough. What do you say?

First fight

Today we have a guest blogger

Guest written by our friend Sergio Chaney

My husband and I got into our very first fight today. We have been married for one year and everything was going perfect. I was starting to think we had a fairytale marriage and that was when it started. I noticed when I went to www.direct.TV that our bill had increased. I thought this was strange, since we were trying to save money and had a minimal plan. When I confronted my husband about it, he said he added some of the sports packages. I was livid. I wanted to try and calm down, but I couldn’t. Last week he told me I had to return my recent clothing purchases because of our budget and he goes and adds a sports package to our television. It was completely uncalled for and inconsiderate of him. It was hard for me to believe he would do something so selfish and cruel. Then everything starting coming out. It was as if we each had been making lists of all the wrongdoings for the past year. It got very ugly. I am sure we will be able to work it out, but right now we are still not talking to one another.

Do you know your states labor laws?

With the growing backlash of workers unhappy with the way their employers are treating them, I wonder if they are aware that many states have labor laws to protect them. In many cases all they have to do is report a violation to their state's labor board and an investigation will be done. I can see that many states will encourage this so they can collect large fines from the companies who are violating workers rights.

Each state is different when it comes to what is covered under their labor laws. All of them cover overtime and working hours but each state is different as to how the overtime is calculated.  For example California Overtime is worked hours over 8 hours in a day while overtime in Oregon is worked hours over 40 in a week. Also each state defines "worked" hours differently. Some states will define "worked" hours to include vacation or paid sick time while other states include only hours that were actually worked.

Those "worked" hours can be a cause for employee and employer problems. Imagine if your paying work week starts on a Saturday but your normal work week is Monday through Friday. You are asked to work the Saturday for "overtime" but the following Monday is a holiday. You end up working 5 days of the week and get paid for the holiday - all at straight time. You complain that you were asked to come in on the Saturday as "overtime" but you were not paid overtime for it. The company will just shrug its shoulders and say that they are following the labor law for that state. I would report the incidence to the state labor board but only if I had a letter or memo from the company requesting the overtime Saturday. If no proof then you would need other workers to back you up in the form of written letters or them also filing a complaint.

Know your states labor laws and also know what your employer is capable of getting away with.