Face it - appearances matter at work

AFTER four years in the car industry, Christina Ong found herself bypassed for promotion. To her, she did everything right: she has given it her all, her job role kept expanding, and her bosses were happy with her performance.

But for some reason, her career progression just hit a wall. She was about to throw in the towel when she had what she calls a "lightbulb moment".

She tells The Business Times Weekend: "I was looking in the mirror, and asking myself: If I were my boss, would I promote me? And the honest answer was no."

Not because she was incompetent or sloppy, but because she did not dress the part.

In her twenties at that time, she was young and dressed in whatever suited her fancy. "If I rolled out bed late, I would turn up in whatever I could grab from my closet. If I felt feminine, I would wear polka dots or a flared skirt," she explains. So, the very next day, she got h…