| Topic Name: |
Interview Dress Code? What should I wear? |
| Message Name: |
Follow Up on "What should I wear?" |
| Date Posted: |
11/13/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I think I am stating the obvious here, but I will ask anyway, just to appease my curiosity, and to see what people will say in response to my question/dilemma.
Tomorrow I have an interview with a large plastics manufacturer. It is an all- day interview, meeting with several different plant managers and engineers individually. The position I am applying for is a staff engineering position in the plant for about 60K.
I have been told beforehand by the HR group of the company I am interviewing with that the dress code for my interview is business casual. No coat or tie is required.
However, I was also told by a so-called "career expert" whom I met at the career transitional service office, after getting laid off from my previous job, that a suit is what you should wear to an interview in ALL cases, no matter what. That is quoting her directly by the way.
I tend to disagree with this statement but part of me agrees with it. I mean, in a suit you look SHARP. And it comes across as someone who is neat, clean, and intelligent looking. However, some would argue that wearing a suit may make the interviewers uncomfortable. Personally, I think what she told me is too outdated. That may have been a rule 20-30 years ago, but with the workplace enviroment constantly changing, especially dress codes, I have to believe that my plan below should be sufficient.
I am leaning on wearing slacks with a nice oxford (button up shirt) and new shoes, in addition to carrying a nice leather folder with notepad. And personally, I think that ought to be enough.
Anyway what do you think? Am I on the right path? Some career people give good advice, but in this case I think the woman that told me suits 100% of the time is an idiot.
LMK.
thanks.
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| Message: |
Hi-
Its me again, me-who wrote the original thread in this discussion. It has taken awhile but let me shed some more light on my original message.
But before I do that, I want to say that the replies to my original message were great and I really appreciated them, however, it only added to my confusion. It seems about half of you said to wear a suit, and the other half said to listen to what HR told me and wear biz casual.
Anyway, in my interview with the company, I wore biz casual to my interview (like the company told me to). Nice shoes, dress slacks, and a nice button down oxford. Everyone who interviewed me wore jeans and golf shirts or khakis and golf shirts. I didn't feel out of place with what I wore since it was a heavy industrial plant. In fact, I felt a bit overdressed at first compared to my interviewers.
Also, while interviewing at the plant that day, I also passed (in the hallway) another candidate who was interviewing for the same position I was up for...and guess what? He had a suit on!! I kinda felt like crap when I saw that, but then I thought to myself...why would I want to work for a company who would put a strike against me for not wearing a suit when they told me biz casual in the first place.
Anyway, the first set of interviews went great and I rec'd a second set of interviews for next week.
I think this experience proves that you ought to wear what they suggest. After all, they know better. Sure, suits are great and all, but in this case, when they tell you biz casual, you ought to listen. Think about it this way, I got a second interview, and who knows what happened to the other candidate I saw who wore the suit?
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