An important part of any interview is presentation. When you walk down an office hallway or go into an interview you notice appearance before a person even speaks. Your clothing speaks about you before your voice does. According to WorkPac 65% of hiring managers say clothes are a deciding factor of picking their next employee. DECA sophomores, Alex Canseco Martinez, Salma Kamal, and Edward Itzep decided to teach others about the importance of dressing to impress. This project was a part of DECA, an organization focused on the business world. They taught students basic information about interviews such as body language according to their brochure. They also taught about resumes and what goes into a resume. Overall, they wanted to guide students through the steps it takes to be properly prepared for an interview in high school and beyond. 

“We help people learn how to dress professionally, act accordingly. And how to enter how to handle interviews, build resumes, basically how to get ready for professional career,” Itzep said 

They strived to teach the proper way to act in an interview, because presentation can be a crucial factor in the professional world. 

“We did surveys. We presented in some classrooms, we did the brochure. And we went around trying to teach people how to tie a tie, make resumes, and interview things like that,” Itzep said. 

A lot of team work went into the project to make it a first place winner at state competition in February. 

“Alex was the leader. He created the project and was basically the one at first to handle most of the decisions. And then he did a lot of research using technology. For example, He went online to get some statistics. And then Salma was like our portfolio specialist, she designed it, she created the graphics. She organized it. And then I was the field expert. I went and I gathered surveys. I helped pass out the brochures,” said Izep 

The students will head to Orlando, Florida on April 22 with the DECA club for international competition. They hope they can spread the importance of presentation to more students.