Dress for the Part!

I never thought I would write an article about dress code for an interview, but recently I witnessed two epic failures when it comes to candidates dressing for an interview. Observing these two events, helped make me see, it’s important to actually address the topic.

To start off, let’s define the three basic levels of clothing. I am not a fashionista, so forgive my crude descriptions:

Causal – Jeans and T-shirt, open toed shoes or sneakers

Business Casual – Khakis and Polo/Button-down Shirt

Business – Dress Pants and Blazer/Suit and Tie

Recently, I was hiring for a Director level position. This role is one level below a Vice President and the candidate, who had internal referrals, showed up wearing a polo shirt and khakis. Everyone else who met with him was wearing a sports coat, and one of the interviewers had a tie on. This candidate even though he knew his stuff, did not give the correct impression the VP and SVP were looking for, and as a result he did not get the offer. They felt he would come across as too casual to the clients when meeting them.

Also in the same week, I was looking for a midlevel person who would be compensated in the middle to low $80,000 range. Again, a role that if a candidate was to come to the interview dressed in business attire, he/she would not feel out of place. This female candidate came in wearing open toed sandals/flats and the rest of her attire was okay, but the company has a policy against open toed shoes, so her interviewing in apparel that she would not wear on a normal workday, is probably not ideal. She did not get the job either, not because of her outfit specifically, but it certainly did not help.

How can you be sure you don’t over or under dress for an interview?

First, if you are going to make an error, do it on the side of overdressing. It is much better for the interviewer to feel that you over dressed than insulted that you didn’t take the role serious enough to wear something more formal.

There is a general rule though that can help you as you are figuring out what to wear. Wear one level above what you would expect the interviewer to be wearing.

Example 1:  If I am interviewing to work in a warehouse and I planned on meeting the foreman who is most likely going to be in jeans and a company shirt, then it is appropriate to wear business casual.

Example 2: If I am interviewing to work in an office building at a desk, the Business Casual might not be good enough, and it is better to wear business attire, as everyone in the office will probably be wearing business casual. In today’s “new world” If you want to skip the tie, you may probably be okay, but I am still too old fashion to skip it.

Ask the recruiter for advice!

If you are in doubt of what you should wear, then ask the recruiter you are working with. It is much better to ask the question than to disappoint and send the wrong message to your interviewers.

If you don’t want to ask the question, because of how you might think it will make you look, then frame the question better.

You can always say something like, “Hey recruiter, I am excited to be interviewing on Thursday at 2:00PM, and I have a quick question. Is it okay if I am not in a suit? The reason I ask is, I have a late meeting and I want to be sure I’m on time, and I might not have a chance to change after my meeting. If I show up to work in dress pants, my boss is going to be suspicious…”

Something like this will help you get the information you need, without actually having to say, I don’t know what I should wear. If you end up showing up in a suit, then you can easily say, the meeting ended earlier than planned.

Never Underdress!

Here is the bottom line, I can’t think of a time when it is okay to interview for a job in casual attire. Especially, if you are a candidate that came through traditional applicant routes. I am sure as our culture continues to shift and change, this thought process might shift as well, but right now I feel it’s still true. If you are leaving your house in jeans and a t-shirt to interview for any role, you might not be interviewing for a job you really want.