To change my appearance at work?

[macbooks]

I’m 25F and work in the civil service as a HEO. I feel like within my directorate, I’m respected as people trust my opinion after working there for years. I am my manager’s deputy so cover his responsibilities in his absence and have exposure to senior stakeholders. I have also been given projects to develop myself, which were all successful.

I’m applying for internal jobs but keep failing interviews that generally go well. My written applications are good & I have the experience. I just don’t know how to get that across. I assume that people who just meet me, might assume I’m incompetent based on my appearance, or is this a jump?

aibu to change my appearance (less makeup, hair tied back) to see if I get a different response? I think my appearance can look a bit different from the average person applying for the same jobs so maybe they can’t envisage me in the role. Or maybe I’m just not great at interviewing.

Well nothing you can do is going to make you long like a older male, your appearance sounds fine.
Most depts have mentoring schemes - my advice would be to tap into either a mentoring scheme or the women's network and get some coaching, and stop worrying about your appearance.

Sounds like an old white man's club. Misogyny to the core. No amount of ponytails will make up for that.

Are you able to see who has been recruited into all these roles you applied for? If it's all white men you may have cause to speak to HR.

Honestly if you scored highly and the only real feedback he gave was that your answered were too rehearsed I would be inclined to think he had a specific candidate in mind

I would agree with finding a women's network and if you are lucky you may find senior female mangers who like to coach younger women to progress in their careers and someone like that can be invaluable

You do sound a bit formal for tech (I'm also CS working in a tech based environment, very male orientated, I'm a G6) but no I really don't think your appearance will be having that much of an impact, well I find it unlikely. There is a lot of unconscious misogynistic behaviour and I don't doubt there is male advantage, but I really don't think the way you dress impacts an interview to that extent. Are you getting proper feedback from your interviews?

@89ghud honestly not really! I got 3s and 4s out of 4 in strength questions in a recent interview. The feedback was generic eg “3=meets expectations; 4=exceeds expectations”. I have been getting 6 out of 7 in my personal statement/competencies.

I’ve had EOI interviews recently, none graded the interviews or really provided much feedback of the interview.

I used to work in Civil Service and most people were quite casual. I would not expect you need to wear smart clothes. Maybe in more managerial positions. However, as you are looking for promotion, it might be an idea to wear, say, a work dress or skirt and top.

@macbooks you're smashing them then with those scores, there really isn't much more you can do. You're clearly ready for the promotion, have you tried looking at other organisations?