Wednesday, December 10, 2008

What to wear to a job interview

Please settle a disagreement between my girlfriend and me. She says I should always dress in “formal interview attire” for a job interview. I say it depends. If I know that everyone in a certain organization dresses in business casual, or even in jeans, I think dressing in a business suit makes me look like I don’t understand “the corporate culture.” Plus I don’t want to be better dressed than the interviewer. I’ve seen job fair recruiters wearing polo shirts. Who’s right?

1 comment:

USDCareerBlog said...

Dear “What to Wear,”

We have to side with your girlfriend on this one. How you dress for an interview doesn’t necessarily relate to how you’ll dress on the job. Showing up in “formal interview attire” is really just a matter of professionalism and respect. We constantly hear from recruiters that otherwise qualified candidates have been eliminated from consideration because of inappropriately informal interview attire. But we have never heard a recruiter report that a candidate was too well-dressed.

Once you get a job, you can dress in the manner that is appropriate for that position and organization. But for the interview, we strongly recommend you always go with appropriate interview attire. Visit our website’s “On-Campus Interviewing” and “Career Expo” sections for more information about appropriate interview attire.