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Job Interview Monday... what to wear?

maestro55

maestro55

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Nov 13, 2005
2,708
0
Goat Farm in Meridian, TX
First off to the smart ass guys, yes I am going to wear clothes. I have a job interview on Monday for a tech support/paid internship position with a local document service company (mailing, printing, data storage). So as usual the question comes up on what to wear. My first thought is a suit, but I do not want to overdress or come off as an uptight person. Second thought is slacks and a dress shirt with tie, or I could drop the tie. My most casual that I would consider going would be khakis and a button-up shirt. Since this isn't an executive position or even a very high paid position, what would be the best thing to wear. What they wear on a daily basis in the IT department there is khakis and a company polo, if that has any bearing on what I should wear to the interview. Mind you I will be meeting with the owner of the company not just the IT manager.

So which is it, suit and tie, slacks and tie (no jacket), just slacks and nice shirt, or the khakis and button-up shirt?
 
mactastic said:
It's always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed.
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what mactastic said is true, remember 1st impressions are important, as is time keeping, i don't have time for anyone that's late for anything, to me timekeeping shows the kind of person one is, but good luck anyway ;)
 
adk said:
Navy suit, white shirt, red tie, black oxfords. always.
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If that's the case, you need to buy more clothes to add some variety... :p

Mr.Noisy said:
what mactastic said is true, remember 1st impressions are important, as is time keeping, i don't have time for anyone that's late for anything, to me timekeeping shows the kind of person one is, but good luck anyway ;)
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Come armed with a few intelligent questions as well :)
 
maestro55 said:
So as usual the question comes up on what to wear.
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Remember: a job interview is a two-way process - you're testing whether you want to work for them, as well as the other way round. So go dressed as a woman: you wouldn't want to work for a narrow-minded company, would you?

Edit: No seriously, you should dress smartly. I've interviewed a lot of people in my time, and you expect people to turn up well dressed. If they don't that's a surprise, and probably not what you want to get noticed for. Once you're in, then you can dress like everyone else.

Other advice? Think in advance about what you think they'll ask you; prepare some answers. Don't bu****it, they'll spot it a mile off unless you're a very accomplished liar. Have some good, relevant, practical examples up your sleeve of how you've worked in a team, or shown leadership, or met deadlines, or risen to a challenge, or whatever you think they might want to know about. Breathe. Smile. Make eye contact. Sit up straight. If they ask you something and you go blank, take a sip of water to give yourself time to think. Don't be afraid to ask for a question to be repeated, or to clarify what's been asked. Firm handshake, not too sweaty, start and end. That enough to keep you going?

Oh, and good luck!
 
maestro55 said:
What they wear on a daily basis in the IT department there is khakis and a company polo, if that has any bearing on what I should wear to the interview.
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That should have no bearing at all. You're not going there for a day at work, you are going to a formal interview. Wear a suit.
 
I agree with wearing a suit, particularly since you are meeting with the owner. If you do not have a suit, you should, you could get by with a navy blue blazer and gray or olive slacks, shirt and tie. Again, I agree you are better served being over dressed for an interview. I had a guy show up in khakis and a golf shirt for an interview once. Someone he knew told him we were casual, but they forgot to mention it was only on Fridays (at a top ten national bank.) He apologized profusely and was VERY embarrassed at his error. I told him he could come back the next day and we would start the process over again. He was lucky. Had he not so obviously been the victim of bad information, I would have dismissed him right away. First impressions only happen once; look your best, be early, and know something about the company so you can ask intelligent questions.
Good Luck!
 
adk said:
Navy suit, white shirt, red tie, black oxfords. always.
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This is exactly what you should wear, except you might possibly want to change the tie to a lighter blue. Red can be seen as too forward in an interview, whereas blue is traditionally viewed as a color worn by someone eager and up-and-coming. A charcoal suit also works. Good luck
 
hookem12387 said:
This is exactly what you should wear, except you might possibly want to change the tie to a lighter blue. Red can be seen as too forward in an interview, whereas blue is traditionally viewed as a color worn by someone eager and up-and-coming. A charcoal suit also works. Good luck
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if you can, make sure the jacket and pants fit you well. navy or charcoal suit, white shirt, black tie or red tie
 
carbonmotion said:
if you can, make sure the jacket and pants fit you well. navy or charcoal suit, white shirt, black tie or red tie
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If anyone makes a decision on whether to hire you based on factors including the colour of your suit and tie etc. they are not worth working for.

As long as you are smart and have a reasonable dress sense, that is all you need to worry about.

If anything you'd probably do better if you dressed a little unconventionally - it'll show you're not just another sheep in the pen...

I said a little unconventionally!
 
It's funny - I've never met anyone, from retail clerks to corporate executives, that don't think the whole "dressing up for an interview" thing (and even dress codes in general!) is a little bit dated and shouldn't play a big factor in finding the best candidate, yet 90% of places do it and it becomes a make-or-break thing for a lot of candidates.

Weird.
 
Unspeaked said:
It's funny - I've never met anyone, from retail clerks to corporate executives, that don't think the whole "dressing up for an interview" thing (and even dress codes in general!) is a little bit dated and shouldn't play a big factor in finding the best candidate, yet 90% of places do it and it becomes a make-or-break thing for a lot of candidates.

Weird.
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I might be your first then. I think dressing appropriately for this sort of thing is important.
 
richardjames said:
I might be your first then. I think dressing appropriately for this sort of thing is important.
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Dressing appropriately is one thing, but whether your suit is brown vs black or your tie is blue vs. red is completely useless unless you are hiring for high end fashion.
 
A very good recruiter friend of mine tells me that it is possible to over dress.

The general rule of thumb is to be dressed one but no more than two notches on the scale better than your interviewer. More than two notches above and the first impression they get is one of feeling inferior to you.

To explain notches, I need to give you some examples. If your interviewer is wearing pants and a polo shirt, one notch above would be pants and a tucked in shirt, two notches above would be pants, a tucked in shirt and a tie while three notches above would be a suit.

If they were in jeans and a tucked in shirt, one notch above would be pants and a polo shirt.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers.
 
vanmacguy said:
A very good recruiter friend of mine tells me that it is possible to over dress.

The general rule of thumb is to be dressed one but no more than two notches on the scale better than your interviewer. More than two notches above and the first impression they get is one of feeling inferior to you.

To explain notches, I need to give you some examples. If your interviewer is wearing pants and a polo shirt, one notch above would be pants and a tucked in shirt, two notches above would be pants, a tucked in shirt and a tie while three notches above would be a suit.

If they were in jeans and a tucked in shirt, one notch above would be pants and a polo shirt.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers.
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Yeah, that is great advice, assuming you know what your interviewer is wearing!

I've been interviewing, and its even harder for me. I am applying for design positions, so its a balance between looking to clean and "uptight" vs. looking creative and artsy.

When in doubt, overdress rather than underdress.
 
vanmacguy said:
A very good recruiter friend of mine tells me that it is possible to over dress.

The general rule of thumb is to be dressed one but no more than two notches on the scale better than your interviewer. More than two notches above and the first impression they get is one of feeling inferior to you.

To explain notches, I need to give you some examples. If your interviewer is wearing pants and a polo shirt, one notch above would be pants and a tucked in shirt, two notches above would be pants, a tucked in shirt and a tie while three notches above would be a suit.

If they were in jeans and a tucked in shirt, one notch above would be pants and a polo shirt.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Cheers.
Click to expand...
So all you have to do is call your interviewer prior to your interview and ask them "so... what are you wearing today?" :eek:
 
See, I think people who wear shirt, tie, trousers to every job interview is just.. I dunno, too generic.

What about some nice black loafers, a trouser with a slight bootcut and maybe a faint pin stripe, and a fitted polo shirt?

Just me.
 
I had an interview 2 weeks ago (got the job), but yea I overdressed for the interview and the interviewer even hinted at it. I guess all that matters though is that I got the job. I wore a business type blue shirt with a dark blue (not navy) tie and black slacks with black shoes. The dress code where I work is casual Friday pretty much. So yea I see where I overdressed, but everyone says its better to overdress than to under dress.
 
mactastic said:
It's always better to be over-dressed than under-dressed.
Click to expand...

very true advice. I recently had a job interview for a full time spot when I get out of school and the offer is sitting on my desk right now.

Both me and the other guy from my school where very over dressed (the recruiter forgot to tell us to dress business casual) and to top it off we where going into the office on casual Friday. So needless to say we stood out.

The nice thing about being over dressed is it is really easy to remove items and reduce how dressed up you are. It is easy to remove the coat and tie. Removing those items really starts making you less over board and still look good. But more importantly you had them just in case you needed them.

Also be your self, do not lie, Never insult or put your self down. You are allowed to brag and you should brag about yourself this is an interview they want to know what you are good at. Be prepared for question like what are your strength and weaknesses (I been asked that question more times than not) They will ask you what makes you difference.
Lastly have a spill ready for the most common question of all, Tell me about yourself. I had one spill I pretty much used over and over again.

Lastly good luck and you are ORDERED to post how it went.
 
Wow, I can't believe how casual the business world (I guess as a whole) is. I'm still in college, but the places I've interned have been business dress. You wear a suit to work, no questions asked (worked at the state capitol during session, and at a lobby firm now). As I love wearing suits, I'm certainly glad my planned field still wears them (law).
 
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