Alright, so I'm 5'7" and I wore Inchmaxxers to a job interview last month. Never thought I'd be writing about shoe lifts for men on the internet, but here we are.

Bit of context: I'm 38, work in sales for a logistics company in Manchester, and I'd been at the same place for six years. Decent job, decent money, but I'd hit a ceiling. When a senior account manager role came up at a competitor - better pay, better prospects - I knew I had to go for it. The thing is, the hiring manager was this tall bloke I'd met at industry events. Probably 6'2", maybe more. And I know it shouldn't matter, but every time I'd spoken to him before, I felt like I was looking up at him the whole time. Sounds daft, I know, but it properly got in my head.

I'd been thinking about trying height increasing insoles for ages. Kept seeing ads online, reading about them, but never pulled the trigger. Then the interview got confirmed and I thought, sod it, what's the harm? Ordered a pair of Inchmaxxers off their website. Took about three days to arrive, which was cutting it fine because the interview was on the Thursday.

When they turned up, I tried them on in the bedroom with my black Clarks - the smart shoes I wear for client meetings. First attempt, I put them in wrong and my foot felt weird, like I was tilted forward. Took them out, adjusted them properly, tried again. Better. Walked around the house for ten minutes. My calves felt it straight away, bit of a stretch, but nothing painful. Looked in the mirror. Couldn't tell from the outside, but I felt taller. Felt like I was standing differently, maybe a bit straighter.

The night before the interview, I wore them round the house for about an hour while I was cooking dinner. My wife asked if I'd bought new shoes. I said no, just the same ones. She didn't push it. I didn't tell her about the insoles - not because I thought she'd take the piss, but because I didn't want to make it a thing. Felt a bit stupid about the whole situation, if I'm honest.

Morning of the interview, I was bricking it. Not about the interview itself - I knew my stuff, I'd prepared well - but about the bloody insoles. What if they fell out when I took my coat off? What if I walked funny and everyone noticed? What if they made a noise? I know that sounds paranoid, but that's genuinely what was going through my head on the train into town.

Got to the office building about fifteen minutes early. Sat in a Costa across the road and had a coffee I didn't need, just to calm down. Walked to the building. Felt fine. Nobody staring. Took the lift to the third floor - there were two other people in there with me and I was convinced they could tell something was off. They couldn't. They were both on their phones.

The interview itself was in a glass meeting room. Three people: the tall hiring manager I knew, the HR director (a woman, probably mid-40s, about 5'5"), and another senior manager I hadn't met before. We shook hands. I'm usually very aware of height in these situations, but this time I wasn't looking up at the main guy as much. Felt more eye level. Not the same height, obviously, but closer. It sounds ridiculous, but it genuinely made me feel less like I was at a disadvantage before I'd even opened my mouth.

Interview went well. I thought I'd be distracted thinking about the insoles, but after the first five minutes I forgot about them completely. Talked through my experience, answered their questions, asked a few of my own. About forty minutes in, I shifted in my chair and felt the insole move slightly in my right shoe. Tiny movement, but I panicked. Thought it was going to slide out or make my foot sit weird. Spent the next question trying to adjust it subtly by pressing my foot down. Nobody noticed. It settled back into place.

Walked out thinking I'd done alright. Didn't get the job, as it happens - they went with an internal candidate, which is what usually happens - but the feedback was positive. Said I interviewed well, came across confident, all that. Whether the height insoles helped with that, I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not. But I didn't spend the whole interview feeling small, which is what I'd been worried about.

I've worn the Inchmaxxers a few times since then. Not every day - can't be bothered for the office, and most of my clients know me anyway so there's no point - but for certain situations. Industry events where I know I'll be networking with new people. Client meetings where first impressions matter. My wife found them in my shoe last week when she was tidying up. Asked what they were. I told her. She laughed, said she'd wondered why I looked taller in some photos recently. Didn't make a big deal out of it, which was a relief.

Would I recommend them? I mean, they're discreet, they're comfortable enough once you get used to them, and nobody's called me out on it. If you're thinking about trying height insoles and you're worried people will notice, they probably won't. I spent all that time stressing about it for nothing. They're just another thing, like wearing a decent shirt or getting a proper haircut. Does it make a massive difference? Not really. Does it help a bit in certain situations? Yeah, probably. That's about it, really.