I don’t expect a candidate in or just out of college to wear a suit. I do expect an experienced hire or career changer with a professional background to wear one. I wouldn’t refuse to hire someone based on dress alone.
Pretty sure my company’s HR department told me how I probably ought to dress for my interview.
I wear sheath dresses with a longer jacket over now whenever I interview. No more pantsuits or skirt suits for me. I do it my way, my style, add my flair without giving the finger to convention. My hair is dyed a very unnatural color, so I think I give off a “this is me, take it or leave it” vibe. No one has decided to leave it, yet.
I do think dress codes are outdated and would love to see them go.
why would you expect an experienced hire to wear one, but not someone from college?
when i was interviewing in college for jobs, suits were expected from us. for an experienced hire, it’s even more annoying to wear a suit if they have to go to work afterwards in a business casual office and therefore need to make sure to have a change of clothes as to not arouse suspicion.
Because suits are expensive and not everyone at that point can afford one. And not all schools prepare students for interviewing or tell them what’s expected. The interviews they’ve had before then were very likely “dress a little nicer than usual” where khakis and a blouse or polo were just fine.
So I don’t expect someone who has never worked in an office setting to understand all the norms.
Most college kids do wear suits. But I wouldn’t hold it against them if they didn’t fully understand the situation.
so for a person interviewing who worked in a business casual office for YEARS and therefore doesn’t own a suit (I don’t), you expect them to go shopping to interview with you who also likely works in a business casual office and THEN if they need to go back to work afterwards, they need to keep a change of clothes there and hope nobody sees them prior to being able to change into said change in clothes.
I mean no one is forcing you to go back to the office after an interview. But yes, I would expect a little better presentation than a polo and slacks from an experienced actuary. I would hope one working in our field can afford a suit.
And like I said, I wear a dress with a jacket. So there are options for how to pull off interview attire that don’t require bespoke.
most people don’t get unlimited vacation days, and if it’s not a full day interview would go to their job afterwards. it’s pretty inconsiderate that you can’t make it more convenient for them there with wearing business casual at an interview, just to play some game here.
pretty grateful that my employer doesn’t share this silly view and specifically told me to not bother with a suit because they know i’ll have to go back to my office afterwards which was business casual rendering it inconvenient for me.
Social norms are weird, and change. I don’t always agree with them. I wear jeans to work every single day and am the only actuary at my company who does. The unspoken rules are loud. That’s probably going to come back to bite me at some point for incredibly inane reasons. I don’t attempt to dress the part. I’ve made peace with that.
Dressing up for an interview is about more than just outdated rules and a demand for respect though, in my opinion.
Suits were already going out of style before the pandemic. Now many of us have been working in pj’s for what will amount to at least a year and a half before we even consider going back to the office. Now I expect them to die a quicker death. People don’t want to go from pj’s and sweats every day back to suits.
Sounds like you’ve found a good fit for you, then. Probably shouldn’t look for a new job anytime soon, you’ll probably be frustrated by what’s expected of you.
I have been involved in interviewing, hiring, and providing feedback at all the companies I have worked at, yes. How someone dresses has come up at least once at each place at some point. It does matter to the people who are doing the hiring, right or wrong. When you show up to an interview in Chuck Taylor’s and corduroys, expect to not get the job.
NA to be honest i thought this post was more “fight picking” than anything before it. AO fan was hostile in the post immediately after this one, but this one seems hostile as well.
How a person dresses at an interview speaks to how they can understand a company’s culture and show the person they’re interviewing with, who they might only get an hour with, that they can envision themselves working there and know what the job is.
A person who wears a suit to interview at a tech startup won’t be a good culture fit, most likely, and a person who wears flips flops and a hoodie to an insurance company interview probably won’t, either.
I would argue that how someone sits in an interview shouldn’t matter. Who cares if I cross my arms and slump down in my chair? It’s comfortable. But it sends a message, whether or not it should. Changing norms takes time, and you can not conform all you want, and good on you, but you might not be employed while bucking the system.
no, if that was picking a fight then her saying i probably shouldn’t look for a job any time soon certainly was. it was implying she knows what’s expected of candidates. i was responding to that post.