Interview attire?

crinkleshoes · 18 Apr 2018 at 22:16

muon said:
So you disregarded two candidates based on an arbitrary criteria that isn't even relevant to the job?

It's not arbitrary... it gave an idea to their mindset of not caring... in a customer-facing industry - that attitude will not represent us well as a company.

The interviews still went ahead... but their choice of attire represented it in the attitude of their communication and effort level in the interview also... so it was a reasonable assertion.

Irregardless of whether my assumptions were correct or not... the OP should not disadvantage himself by being on the other side of the table to someone like me or someone worse than me...

dowie · 19 Apr 2018 at 00:56

crinkleshoes said:
It's not arbitrary... it gave an idea to their mindset of not caring... in a customer-facing industry - that attitude will not represent us well as a company.

The interviews still went ahead... but their choice of attire represented it in the attitude of their communication and effort level in the interview also... so it was a reasonable assertion.

Irregardless of whether my assumptions were correct or not... the OP should not disadvantage himself by being on the other side of the table to someone like me or someone worse than me...

Yeah but it is potentially the other way around here - wearing a suit in this case is could well be like not wearing a suit in your case.

i.e. he knows full well what sort of employer it is already, turning up in a suit could be a bit like Will from the inbetweeners when he turns up at a comprehensive school - his mum kits him out in the full school uniform (including the blazer no one wears) and he carries a briefcase to make a good impression on his first day:

LeMson · 19 Apr 2018 at 01:12

Got a uni interview soon, was gonna wear shirt and tie, i'm overdressed doing my work exp wearing the same shirt and tie combo. This thread does have me thinking if I should have a suit jacket too, though unless it's freezing cold i'll probably be nervous and sweat like a pig lol

dowie · 19 Apr 2018 at 01:37

LeMson said:
Got a uni interview soon, was gonna wear shirt and tie, i'm overdressed doing my work exp wearing the same shirt and tie combo. This thread does have me thinking if I should have a suit jacket too, though unless it's freezing cold i'll probably be nervous and sweat like a pig lol

I wore a suit for work experience, made a good impression overall and they later employed me in a paid role during the summer holidays half way through 6th form. Basically they had a load of women in the back office who were useless with computers - I was quite nifty with excel at the time and got a whole load of stuff sorted for them pretty quickly. They also had recent grads employed there (back office staff not brokers) who were given mundane tasks to do, I (a 17 yr old at the time) seemed to be trusted more than the new grads and given more responsibility simply because I'd made a good impression and got **** done previously.

Strife212 · 19 Apr 2018 at 08:42

XeNoN89 said:
Interview is ALWAYS a suit. Better to be over dressed that under dressed.

It isn't, at some tech companies they'll think you're weird.

Captain Chaos · 19 Apr 2018 at 09:01

A suit.

Make the effort.

Deluxe1 · 19 Apr 2018 at 09:03

Office type environment wear a suit, manufacturing type jobs just be smart / casual.

I've worked in the latter all my life and if you turn up in a suit you are over dressed for the job.

XeNoN89 · 19 Apr 2018 at 09:07

Strife212 said:
It isn't, at some tech companies they'll think you're weird.

No they won't. If they have a casual dress at work policy that's fine, but you still interview in a suit regardless.

Daaaavvveee · 19 Apr 2018 at 09:11

Vern1961 · 19 Apr 2018 at 09:28

Always worn a dark grey suit including a waistcoat for interview.

The only exception was a few years back for a re-organisation displacement procedure, but that was in work time when weekday dress code is shirt, tie and smart trousers anyway.

dowie · 19 Apr 2018 at 10:21

XeNoN89 said:
Strife212 said:

It isn't, at some tech companies they'll think you're weird.

Click to expand...

No they won't. If they have a casual dress at work policy that's fine, but you still interview in a suit regardless.

Nope, Strife212 is right - at some places you'll just look weird, just take for example the question on quora in relation to say google - some don't care, others confirm what Strife212 said and see it as a negative:

ubersonic · 19 Apr 2018 at 12:25

XeNoN89 said:
No they won't. If they have a casual dress at work policy that's fine, but you still interview in a suit regardless.

Indeed, the only real exception is Google who make it known they prefer weirdness in their employees and request casual attire.

There's a very simple way to look at it: Will a suit hurt your chances in an interview? Almost certainly no, will not wearing a suit hurt your chances in an interview? Almost always yes.

It's good it "appears" the OPs decision didn't hurt him too much but it's still better to play it safe.

Vern1961 · 19 Apr 2018 at 12:32

ubersonic said:
Indeed, the only real exception is Google who make it known they prefer weirdness in their employees and request casual attire.

Well you could always do like Joe Pesci in My Cousin Vinny who turned up at Court in a showman's outfit after his suit got trashed in the mud!

Or go OTT and wear a tux!

Scam · 19 Apr 2018 at 12:38

crinkleshoes said:
Irregardless of whether my assumptions were correct or not... the OP should not disadvantage himself by being on the other side of the table to someone like me or someone worse than me...

To be perfectly honest if you run a casual office yet judge people on their appearance at interviews, I'd call that rather hypocritical. Perhaps you should think why it's acceptable for your staff to dress down, but not your interviewers? Afterall, if your staff are meeting their customers in jeans and tshirts should that not be good enough for you?

ubersonic said:
Indeed, the only real exception is Google who make it known they prefer weirdness in their employees and request casual attire.

There's a very simple way to look at it: Will a suit hurt your chances in an interview? Almost certainly no, will not wearing a suit hurt your chances in an interview? Almost always yes.

It's good it "appears" the OPs decision didn't hurt him too much but it's still better to play it safe.

Google aren't some almighty exception to everything. There's a million companies out there that probably run their offices in a similar way. I know, I share a building with Google...

I already posted reasons why a suit could work against you;
- Shows lack of experience working in that type of company/role/environment
- Shows a lack of understanding of the workplace and people you'll be working with/for
- Shows a lack of creativity (kinda important for a creative role)

You say it "appears" the OP dressing casual didn't harm him, why won't you admit it may have been advantageous? :confused:

ubersonic · 19 Apr 2018 at 13:06

Scam said:
I already posted reasons why a suit could work against you

Yes but the fact remains that just because there is there are extremely rare situations where wearing a suit could be detrimental (and as per the Google example they will usually be known ahead of time) it doesn't make it good advice to tell people not to, especially when wearing one will be advantageous 99.99% of the time. Just because the bad advice doesn't appear to have done any damage to the OPs chances (not that we will really ever know) doesn't magically make it good advice.

Scam · 19 Apr 2018 at 13:25

ubersonic said:
Yes but the fact remains that just because there is there are extremely rare situations where wearing a suit could be detrimental (and as per the Google example they will usually be known ahead of time) it doesn't make it good advice to tell people not to, especially when wearing one will be advantageous 99.99% of the time. Just because the bad advice doesn't appear to have done any damage to the OPs chances (not that we will really ever know) doesn't magically make it good advice.

I don't think anyone in this thread is saying a suit is a bad idea across the board, more that it's a bad idea in the OP's case - he was interviewing at a creative/digital agency. If you work in a "casual" industry then it's more likely that wearing a suit to an interview will be to your detriment. Some people in this thread don't want to admit that.

dowie · 19 Apr 2018 at 13:57

ubersonic said:
Indeed, the only real exception is Google who make it known they prefer weirdness in their employees and request casual attire.

Well that obviously isn't true, the idea you can speak for every possible employer and declare that 'only' google is the exception is ridiculous.

ubersonic · 19 Apr 2018 at 14:03

dowie said:
Well that obviously isn't true, the idea you can speak for every possible employer and declare that 'only' google is the exception is ridiculous.

So off hand how many other major companies demand that interviewees dress to express their individuality? Because being the first/only one is kinda something Google are specifically known for.

kaptainmarc · 19 Apr 2018 at 14:05

Going against the grain a bit but i would say

never a suit, it will either look too fancy (if its a nice suit) or you will look like a sales man coming to sell the latest and greatest soap dispenser.

the only people who wear suits these days are salesmen.

Ekim · 19 Apr 2018 at 14:08

I know this is already going over old ground, I work in this industry. I have only ever once interviewed in a suit and that was when I was my first interview as part of a graduate scheme. Since then I have only ever interviewed in slightly smarter clothes than I would normally wear on a day to day basis. Never a suit.

Wearing a suit, whilst it might not be a bad thing could reflect that you don't know much about the industry - which could be a potential issue for an employer. It's a tough call and one that you can't possibly know which way to go until it is too late.