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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