She reaches for the black shoes. They are one solid color, not shiny, and are closed-toed, waiting neatly for their turn among the colorful stilettos and carefree wedges normally reserved for parks and parties. Her left shoe is the last thing she puts on before standing up and taking one final look in the mirror. Her suit blazer has two buttons, her collared pinstripe shirt is tucked into her black pants. Her short, brown hair is pulled back away from her face with discreet bobby pins and she has no jewelry on, save for a delicate gold chain. Her perfume is light, an afterthought. Chloe Weisberg is ready for her interview.

Her black purse is small and fits just everything she needs for the next few hours – nothing more. She opens the black leather resume folder and checks to make sure she has at least three extra copies. She holds one up to the light to see that the watermark is in the right place on the thick paper.

“It says something about you when you walk into the room and everything is calculated down to a T,” said Weisberg, a California native now completing her MBA degree at New York University. “All this, this isn’t by chance. More than that, it’s expected.”

Shoes: closed-toed.

Hair: swept off the face.

Watermark: Upper half of the résumé, face-up.

The recruiter pretends to care about the small talk you make as you walk towards the interview room, but secretly he’s sizing you up before you say a word — based on these tiny details. In the past year, as jobs have grown more scarce and applicants have grown more panicky, a job offer can come down to a mastery of these subtle tricks.

“People have a system that they follow on how to prepare and the smart ones follow it,” said Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio, a career services expert at Vault.com, who has also led recruiting teams for Merrill Lynch and Pfizer in the past. “A hiring manager is most impressed with people who looked confident even if they are nervous. Paying attention to details can really set you apart here.”

The idea is to show that you not only understand the rules of the game, but also its technicalities. It’s common sense to do your research on a company before the interview, to look presentable and to make it on time. But those who attend to more subtle matters —  like résumé paper thickness — score extra (aka “brownie”) points before the game even begins. And in case you are wondering, the 24-pound résumé paper serves as the best option; it’s thick enough to stand out among all the 20-pound papers cluttering a busy hiring manager’s desk, but not too thick to seem pretentious. You’re thinking OCD? Recruiters are thinking impressive.

“I always say people need to prepare for interviews two days in advance,” said Thanasoulis-Cerrachio. “When you take care of details, like ensuring a suit is immaculate and résumés are ready to go, the time and effort put into it is noted.”

And the tricks depend on the trade. Bankers are expected to wear dark suits, with the occasional pinstripe, and be ready to talk numbers. Those in manufacturing should dress like they are ready to roll up their sleeves and get busy — no use fussing with ties. Other industries, like advertising, expect a little creativity from prospective employees. It’s all about knowing what you’re getting into.

“You see a lot more color, more jewelry, a style that is more graphically representative of a person’s personality in advertising,” said Joe Heimbold, a Pittsburgh-based management consultant who works with big names like McFrank &Williams in advertising and Hewlett-Packard in technology. “It’s like dating someone. You need to know that what you are getting into will fit in with your own views.”

Some people have done a lot more than wear an eye-catching necklace or funky headband to show their uniqueness during interviews in advertising. It goes beyond bringing samples of creative artwork, too; candidates have done things like sending Heimbold short video clips to introduce themselves before an interview.

“It’s risky because you are asking for more time out of the hiring manager’s day and the video could be too generic, not addressing specific company needs,” said Heimbold. “But if you really have something killer to say and you think it requires a whole song and dance — do it.”

Most recruiting professionals agree that sticking to basics is key, even in the most creative of industries. When it comes to video introductions, Marc Mencher, recruiting veteran in the video game industry for nearly 30 years, doesn’t think it’s meant for everyone.

“If you’re not pretty, don’t do a video,” said Mencher, president of www.gamerecruiter.com, based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “Videos work well for a subset of people who are attractive and know how to communicate well. Either way, if it’s over two minutes, you’re dead.”

He has a list of suggestions for little things people can do to get noticed. He believes putting a yellow Post-It note on a résumé that says “CALL ME” shows humor and an appetite for risk. True, this wouldn’t fly in the banking world, but it might work in the video game industry. Another of his bold tips: Write and send out monthly newsletters on a relevant, well-researched subject to people who work at the company you are interested in.

“The whole goal is to get your name out to a company,” said Mencher. “People hire and promote names they know.”

This is where networking helps. Knowing a company is also about knowing the people who run it. When Robert Reganyan began looking for positions at law firms after getting his JD/MBA at Pepperdine University in California three years ago, he went to a career fair at school with his smart phone loaded with photos of people he wanted to talk to. That way he could recognize the ones he was interested in right away, and display his knowledge. By the end of the day, he left with three job offers.

“That extra mile really makes a difference,” said Reganyan, who now runs a successful private practice, Reganyan Law Firm, in Southern California.

Still, these tricks can take you only so far; your skills need to actually match what the company is looking for. Otherwise, it won’t matter how many times you practice that three-pump handshake or steam press your wrinkled Brooks Brothers suit.

“Be a people sponge, be creative and stick to basics,” said Thanasoulis-Cerrachio. And don’t forget to send out those hand-written thank you notes after the interview.

On 24-pound vellum paper, of course.