Job hunters & Job Keepers: Check Your Look, says WSJ

In the Style section of the Wall Street Journal last month a piece titled "Laid Off? Check Your Look ... and Your Attitude" caught our eye. It was intended for job seekers who - reluctantly - have been released to the streets to seek employment elsewhere. The sage wisdom of this story applies not just to job seekers, but to those who still have a job and wish to keep it that way.

The story discusses the importance of an up-to-date wardrobe, an attitude free of baggage, and oddly enough, a healthy appreciation for punctuation (in correspondence). All true.

There's one component the author left out -- bodily appearance. Whether you're looking for a job, or looking to keep the job you have, your appearance beneath the modern wardrobe can speak volumes. Just as a flattering hairstyle is important to your image, so is radiant, healthy skin. Have excessive body hair or (for women) facial hair? Get rid of it, or at least reduce it with laser treatments (using the Alexandrite laser wavelength). Alexandrite laser treatments are very safe and effective for permanent results.

Radiant skin rarely comes from an over-the-counter product. OTC products can be quite good, but the time it takes to reach your goal can be longer than you're willing to allow. The fastest results come from pharmaceutical-grade products because they contain the ingredients that get the job done. That these ingredients are governed by the FDA and require a licensed practitioner to dispense them should be of no concern for you because these practitioners will also steer you away form products that make little contribution toward your goals.

You can also boost appearance, attitude, and fend off signs of age (age descrimination, immoral or not, is a reality), by pursuing medical esthetic treatments like Juvederm, an injected solution that restores volume in the face to remove "parentheses" around your smile for up to one year. Also there's BOTOX, the purified protein, that relieves deep furrows caused by excessive muscle contraction. And Latisse! Latisse grows eyelashes and is approved by the FDA for that purpose.

The job market is tough. You need every edge to put yourself out in the lead against your competition.