What you wear to an interview speaks volumes about you. Remember, you are marketing a product – yourself. The old saying, “Dress for the position you want, not the one you have” is still current in 2009.
Appropriate attire supports your personal branding, suggests you take the interview process seriously and indicates that you understand the nature of the industry and/or role in which you are trying to become employed.
The first judgment an interviewer makes is within the first few seconds. Without even thinking about it, they are quickly assessing how you look and what you are wearing.
Should you be judged by what you wear? Perhaps not, but the reality is, of course, that you are judged. Throughout the entire process employers use short cuts — rules of thumb — to save time. With cover letters, it’s the opening paragraph. With resumes, it is a quick scan of your professional summary. With the job interview, it’s how you’re dressed that sets the tone of the interview.
Will dressing properly get you the job? Of course not, but it will give you a competitive edge, a positive first impression and a boost in your self-confidence.
Even if you are certain that everyone, including the CEO, wears business casual – it still doesn’t matter. Outside of some of the “special exception categories”, mentioned below, rarely will you do yourself harm by dressing in formal business attire.
As a recruiter, I’ve never heard a hiring manager tell me that a candidate would not be called back for a second interview – simply because they were too formally dressed in the initial interview. However, I’ve seen many highly qualified candidates harmed by what they wore to an interview.
Hiring managers often look at it this way, how you present yourself to me is how you will present yourself to my clients. And if you are too casual or too laid back for an initial meeting – that can come across as indifferent or arrogant.
While conservative, formal business attire is the answer for 95% of all interview occasions, there are a handful of situations where business casual is more appropriate – depending on the position category, the industry sector of the prospective employer and the setting.
Some possible exceptions to formal interview attire:
IT People
Unless you’re going after a senior-level IT position – it’s usually fine to wear business casual attire to an interview. A sport coat would be a nice touch if the job might involve managing people or interfacing with clients. Not that they would expect you to wear a sport coat – in a typical day. They just want to be sure you know what to wear when their largest client, or an investor, comes to visit.
“Creatives”
This category only includes creative directors, art directors, designers, illustrators, copywriters and the like. If you are a member of this category, many of the rules go out the window. It’s fine to be a little left of center – within the bounds of good taste. The key is simplicity and understanding the culture of the organization. In most ad agencies, they expect far more casual dress from “creatives”. However, if you’re interviewing for a graphic design position, within a law or accounting firm, don’t expect that they will approve of your free-spirited clothing selection.
Differences at creative, entertainment, fashion or dot.com firms
If you’re headed to an interview with a creative, entertainment or dot.com firm – it might be smart to do some mental preparation.
Unless you are a “creative”, it’s still smart to come to the interview in formal business attire, however, if the interviewer seems uncomfortable, by the formality of your attire, just ask if he minds if you remove your coat. And if he makes an off-hand remark about how dressed-up you are – reply, with a smile, that this wasn’t your typical style and that you are relieved that they have a more relaxed work atmosphere.
Differences – depending on setting
If your networking skills land you an informational meeting (not an interview) at the local Starbucks, you might want to take the “business casual” approach – even if you would typically wear formal business attire.
