How to Dress for an Interview
In this day and age, it’s possible to conduct the majority of your job hunt from the comforts of your bedroom, drinking a highball in your underwear while you type the sentence, “I am an extremely motivated and professional individual.” Sure, you may have a few networking meetings over coffee, but in general you can basically get away with murder on the hygiene and appearance front. Then it happens—you actually land an interview and the question of what to wear hits you like a ton of bricks.
Like it or not, what you wear to your interview does make a difference. Ours is a superficial society that privileges the importance of “making the effort,” so go into any interview with the notion that you are what you wear, even if you don’t agree with it. A job interview isn't a fashion statement, but it is a statement about you and how you see yourself. So, how do you see yourself? Follow these tips to make sure you don’t lose a job over a wardrobe faux pas.
Think About Industry Standards
It may be a relief to some that you don't always need to wear a suit to an interview. It's true: it depends on the company and the job for which you're interviewing. For some industries, such as sales, you should definitely wear a suit to the interview because let's face it—would you take a sales guy seriously if he wore jeans, flip flops, and a baseball hat? Probably not. Think about it from the interviewer's point of view: she is assessing how you may present yourself in front of clients. Same goes for industries like hospitality where you'll constantly be in the public eye and finance just because it's a conservative industry. For other types of industries, such as IT or publishing, you might consider toning it down a notch with business casual (see below). These generalizations are useful if you are going in blind, but your best bet is to do some research about the standards of the specific company where you’re interviewing.
Operation: Office Attire
How will you know whether the company is conservative, informal, or somewhere in between? According to this Monster.com article, you should look to the company's culture to see what attire is appropriate and then dress "somewhat dressier than what the employees wear to work." So if you met with someone from a company who was wearing a blazer, jeans, and shoes, then you might step it up to slacks and a nice shirt. If you have no idea, ask HR (or the receptionist) about the office dress code or how the staff dresses, saying you're meeting with someone that day and want to make sure you're dressed appropriately (you don’t have to tell them who you are). If that idea freaks you out too much, have a friend call. Finally, ask others in the same profession what they wore to their interviews or what they'd expect job applicants to wear in their line of work. The point is, you can never really go wrong by erring on the conservative side, but you don’t want to appear completely out of touch with the company culture. So while you shouldn’t wear a Hawaiian shirt to Goldman Sachs, you also shouldn’t wear a three-piece suit to an interview with a young, casual startup.
Wear It Like You Mean It
The key, whether you opt for a suit or business casual, is to convey confidence, competence, and professionalism. As Virginia Tech's Career Services website so nicely puts it, "Appropriate attire supports your image as a person who takes the interview process seriously and understands the nature of the industry in which you are trying to become employed." Of course, you should strive to look your very best no matter what you wear. Take time to figure out your "interview look"—and that includes grooming (keep your facial hair clean, guys). Don't limit yourself to black suits with white blouses or collared shirts. Navy and gray suits are flattering colors that work well with accent colors, such as bright or pastel-colored collared shirts.
If you’re interviewing with a range of companies in different industries, do yourself a favor by discovering a few "interview looks.” It’s likely that you’ll have to go to more than one interview before you get a job, so settling on a few outfits that work will mean you don’t have to freak out about it again. Choose wisely—not only for the impression you will leave on others, but for the confidence you will have before you even leave the house. A winning outfit is one that you feel confident in, one that is somewhat stylish (i.e., not dated), and one that screams, "I take this interview seriously enough to look professional!"
- Industry standards – There is no “golden rule” of interview attire because dress standards vary across different industries and offices. Finance is generally conservative, while fashion PR might require something more than J. Crew. Having a sense of your target industry's standards is a good starting point.
- Call ahead – If you don’t have an inside source at the company, what better way to find out the dress standards than to call and ask? Without giving your name, you can call HR or the receptionist and say that you have a meeting and wanted to make sure you dressed appropriately. If you’re a wuss, have a friend do it for you.
- Err conservative – Actually, we lied—there is a golden rule: take what you know about the standards at the place you’re interviewing, then dress a little bit more conservatively. You don’t want to be on the lower end of the spectrum.
- Give yourself a confidence boost – Laying out just the right outfit or wearing your lucky tie can make you feel better prepared when you enter the interview. There’s no need to hit the tanning salon, but remember that we're all humans and looking your best is all part of the mythical "first impression."
- Grooming, etc. – Don’t forget about other aspects of your appearance, such as a facial hair, jewelry, tattoos, etc. Remember that the goal to appear professional and serious about the position.
