Beginning job seekers frequently spend a great deal of time and
energy thinking and worrying about how they will dress for job
interview. As they continue their career, and going on job interviews
they soon learn that this is an important, but hardly life-changing set
of decisions to make. Above all, the lesson of dressing for a job
interview is not to wear anything that would stand out in either a good
or bad way. The way you dress for a job interview serves a few simple
purposes. First, it shows that you are a well-groomed, presentable
person who knows how to look professional. This is important to a
company to keep lunatics and homeless people from working at their
office. Second, the way you dress offers proof that you understand the
nature of the environment, and can fit into it easily.
When you dress for job interview in a way that stands out, either as
less formal or more formal, you violate that second principle. The
interviewer, subconsciously or consciously sees that you look different
from the rest of the office and might take that as a clue that you would
not easily become a part of their team. For that reason, before you go
on a job interview it’s a good idea to do a little preliminary
investigation to see what the formal and informal office dress code is.
For most professional offices, the safest way to go is the style of
dress known as business professional. That is an easy code to meet, too.
Most of us have experience dressing up in this way, and any clothing
salespeople you get to help you will have plenty of advice as well.
More Tips to Dress for Job Interview Success
When you dress for job interview in the business professional dress
code, the name of the game is to be as crisp and clean and classic as
you possibly can be. For men this means a dark suit, solid light colored
shirts, a nice tie, dress shoes and a belt that matches those shoes.
For women, a crisp and professional pantsuit or jacket skirt combination
fills the same niche. As you accessorize, the name of the game is to be
as simple as possible. Men and women alike should avoid flashy jewelry,
bright colors and strong scents. Women should wear their makeup as
lightly and simply as they can. Even though this might seem boring to
you, and a reflection of someone you are not, remember that it’s only
for the interview and your primary goal is not to offend or stimulate
anyone.
The one dress for job interview exception to the professional
business code is a creative or artistic field. Advertising, fashion and
publishing for instance frequently have their professionals dress in a
way that seems a bit more fashionable, comfortable and edgy than banks and other institutions. In these companies, showing up in a suit
and tie might be just as inappropriate as showing up at a bank wearing a
tuxedo. For this reason, the best solution to avoid an embarrassing
mistake is to spend the time and energy researching the dress code of
the individual company before the interview.
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