Do you wear a suit to your interviews?

Olajuwon

I wear a long sleeved shirt with tie. I rarely wear a suit.

sharptech

I do wear a suit- as they say - dress to sucess! First impressions mean a ton as well..

ITNYC

Olajuwon wrote:

I wear a long sleeved shirt with tie. I rarely wear a suit.

A suit is a must. like the other poster said, first impressions mean alot.

BubbaJ

Olajuwon wrote:

I wear a long sleeved shirt with tie. I rarely wear a suit.

In New York? That would seem to be professional suicide. Any success with that?

Here, in casual, hot Texas, not wearing a suit counts against you even if you are only expected to wear jeans on the job.

JDMurray

Yes, if you have to wear the "monkey suit" at least once at your new job it should be during the interview. I don't believe in the advice that you should dress like the employees dress to show how you would fit in. You wouldn't show up to an interview for a job at McDonald's wearing a McDonald's uniform. Even if you won't be wearing a suit in your new job, let your potential boss see you "cleaned up nice" just once in your career.

keenon

it depends but i always dress nice...

blargoe

Always Always Always Always wear a suit on your first interview with a company.

If you get invited back for a second, there would be very few exceptions to not wearing a suit for the second interview.

1) If they tell you when you're there the first time you don't need to wear one or simply not to wear one (yes, this has happened to me before)

2) Depending on the office environment, if everyone including the people interviewing you are really dressed down (blue jeans, shorts, t-shirt, etc), then you might could lose the suit coat the second time around.

3) If it's a dirty environment like a factory or plant, I wouldn't want to mess up my suit.

You can never go WRONG wearing one, but you can not wearing one. It's a no brainer.

JDMurray

blargoe wrote:

3) If it's a dirty environment like a factory or plant, I wouldn't want to mess up my suit.

It depends upon the job you are interviewing for in the factory. Any white collar or professional position I would wear the suit. They'll be interviewing you in the front office and not on an assembly line or in a dross pit anyway. If the manager gives you a tour of factory, you can bet that s/he's not gonna take you places where the both of you will get dirty.

win2k8

can you wear a suit for a interview for jobs in Best Buy or CompUSA? should you dress up at all for interviews for them?

jpeezy55

I always dress in a long-sleeve shirt and tie. I've never worn a suit to an interview for a Tech Position. If it was for a Lawyer position or Corporate Sales or something, then a suit is appropriate.

Usually, if you ask the person setting up the interview, you can find out if they are a casual-dress company. If so, then going in with a suit on may be too much. Don't go in wearing jeans and a t-shirt, but a nice long-sleeve shirt and tie is usually good along with dress-pants (no Dockers or anything).

Just my opinion...

imfrom51

Always Always Always Always wear a suit on your first interview with a company.

I got the job I have now because I wore a suit. My boss said that it really impressed her and that the other person didn't wear one. This is the second time that I have got the job because I wore a suit.

Thanks Dad for that piece of advice.

12thlevelwarrior

I don't have a business suit, but I do wear very sharp dress pants, shirt, tie and a blazer with sharp dress shoes. It looks alittle less formal than a conservative business suit but still looks sharp. Not to colorful, but I feel more relaxed in this...

blargoe

I think that would be OK

sprkymrk

Sport coat, tie and dress slacks for me. A suit is fine too, but as long as the sport coat is a nice one it has the same effect. At least in my experience it has.

win2k8

Do you have to wear a suit for a Best Buy or CompUSA type job on your interview? or just a long sleeve shirt and dress pants will suffice?

sprkymrk

win2k4 wrote:

Do you have to wear a suit for a Best Buy or CompUSA type job on your interview? or just a long sleeve shirt and dress pants will suffice?

Add in a tie and you should be good to go.

capy_12090

I actually had an interview this morning... I didn't wear a suit because the last time I interviewed at a state agency I was wearing a suit and the interviewers weren't even wearing ties, and I felt overdressed.

I felt like things went fine this morning... as I expected, the interviewers were once again dressed casually so I did not feel that I should have worn a suit.

But I would always wear a suit if I wasn't sure whether or not to wear one.

RTmarc

I don't ever wear suits. I'll put on a nice shirt and pants and then wear a tie. So far it hasn't let me down. I've always heard that a suit is nice but it doesn't really reflect who you are or what you would wear on a daily basis; hence why I wear what I would going to work with the addition of a tie.

Webmaster

If you are not sure whether to wear a suite or not, only the tie is optional imo. I 'tried' both, and I felt worse being underdressed than overdressed

Go Bucks

capy_12090 wrote:

I actually had an interview this morning... I didn't wear a suit because the last time I interviewed at a state agency I was wearing a suit and the interviewers weren't even wearing ties, and I felt overdressed.

I had the same thing happen to me too capy. I'm going with a shirt and tie from now on until I get into "management" type positions. What State are you from?

sharptech

Have my interview Wed. and you bet I will be wearing a suit :P

Danman32

I can't wear a tie (practically no neck), so a blazer over a button down shirt and dress slacks would compensate for me. Still, with Florida weather as it is, the blazer often will end up being taken off.

Better to be overdressed than underdressed though.

SRTMCSE

I went for an interview for a home construction company, brand new suit and all...the 2 guys interviewing me were in jeans and t-shirts. I felt a little overdressed but I'm sure they didn't hold it against me. I did however take the jacket off halfway thru the interview. The office was ridicuously hot and I'd rather have them see me without a jacket on then a sweaty mess.

jasonboche

My knowledge is worth more than any suit. If push came to shove where I wasn't getting a job because I wasn't wearing a suit, then I guess I'd wear a suit as a last resort. Anyone who can't evaluate me beyond the suit crap, especially if they aren't wearing one on their end, isn't worthy of hiring me because their values and priorities are in the wrong place to begin with. I'm an engineer, not a banker or a lawyer who must make himself presentable for your honor. A potential employer should consider themselves lucky if I don't show up for the interview in a vendor polo. Do you want me for my wardrobe or do you want me for my technical knowledge? If your priority is to follow every episode of "What Not To Wear" with Stacy and Clinton, where it's considered important to go blow $5,000 on a few outfits in New York which will probably only fit you and the current fashion trend for the next year, then my priority is to vomit in your face and not work for you because I can think of a lot better things to be spending $5,000 on.

The last job I interviewed for was this one and I've been very successful here for over 8 years. I did not wear a suit to the interview for this job since I was already working another job at the time. They were recruting me (I wasn't even really looking for a job at the time) and I made time in the middle of my day to drive to this interview downtown and I showed up in what I was wearing that day which was dockers and a long sleeved business casual shirt. No suit, no tie, no top button.

I'm involved in the hiring process where I'm at and to me it's the technical skills that count the most. I receive resumes with grammar and spelling mistakes which I catch pretty quickly but I'm told to overlook them if the candidate looks good otherwise. Times change.

BubbaJ

O.K. I called and talked to some hiring managers and HR interviewers. The concensus is that it is not necessarily required to wear a suit to get the job, BUT, and this seems to be a very common case, if more than one candidate for the job are qualified and close in percieved skills, the one presenting himself the best (suit) will get the job. This also seems to be the case when interviewing for a different job within the same company, although it was not felt as strongly as it was with outsiders.

Having said that, there were a few interesting answers:

One hiring manager insisted that it was a matter of respect. If you don't respect him enough to try to impress him, he won't respect you enough to hire you. He was definitely from the old school, but there are still a lot of them out there.

One explained that it was really not much more trouble to dress yourself in a suit than it is to put on regular clothes, but it gives the impression that you will give "that little bit extra" that the non-suited candidate won't.

An HR interviewer told me that she sees the way you dress as an indicator of how much you want the job, and how much you would be willing to put into the job (sort of like the one above). I couldn't resist, and I asked her if that meant I should wear a tuxedo to my next interview. She laughed at that.

sprkymrk

BubbaJ wrote:

O.K. I called and talked to some hiring managers and HR interviewers. The concensus is that it is not necessarily required to wear a suit to get the job, BUT, and this seems to be a very common case, if more than one candidate for the job are qualified and close in percieved skills, the one presenting himself the best (suit) will get the job. This also seems to be the case when interviewing for a different job within the same company, although it was not felt as strongly as it was with outsiders.

Having said that, there were a few interesting answers:

One hiring manager insisted that it was a matter of respect. If you don't respect him enough to try to impress him, he won't respect you enough to hire you. He was definitely from the old school, but there are still a lot of them out there.

One explained that it was really not much more trouble to dress yourself in a suit than it is to put on regular clothes, but it gives the impression that you will give "that little bit extra" that the non-suited candidate won't.

An HR interviewer told me that she sees the way you dress as an indicator of how much you want the job, and how much you would be willing to put into the job (sort of like the one above). I couldn't resist, and I asked her if that meant I should wear a tuxedo to my next interview. She laughed at that.

This is similar to the attitudes and opinions I have seen in employers. Likewise, when I am hiring someone I look for an overall attitude. Part of that is how a person carries himself/herself, including their choice of clothes. Not that I would care about the clothes themselves, but rather the attitude that went into their choice. I had a situation similar to jasonboche in that I was called to an interview in the middle of the work day. At the time I was an electrician and wore blue jeans and a short sleeve shirt to work. I told the employer ahead of time that I probably wouldn't be very presentable and he said not to worry about it. I did worry about it though, so I brought a change of clothes with me - slacks, shirt and tie - no suit, but he was impressed because he was expecting me in jeans. I interviewed before a panel of 5 people for about an hour and got the job, even though the other 2 finalists for the job had a lot more experience. I know for a fact that one was not hired because he had a long pony tail and scruffy whiskers - this guy was 50 years old and should have known better.

capy_12090

Go Bucks wrote:

I had the same thing happen to me too capy. I'm going with a shirt and tie from now on until I get into "management" type positions. What State are you from?

I'm in New York.

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In response to the poster from Florida, I think it made sense for you to take off your suit part of the way through the interview... doing that also shows you are able to adapt and fit it.

Danman32

You don't have to spend $5000 for a suit. There are many discount retailers out there, even in NYC.

If someone calls you midday at the last minute for an interview, they really can't hold it against you on your dress. But if you are given an opportunity to prepare, then at least wear a button down shirt and dress slacks.

blargoe

I got my suit off the discount rack at JC Penney for less than $300. There are bargain stores and consignment shops in every city in the USA where you can find nice 2nd hand suits, blazers, etc.

sharptech

Update:

Did wear a suit to the interview today and the person who did interview me (IT Director) was very impressed. Wear the suit :P

blargoe

FWIW, I'm having a 2nd interview on Friday, I wore a suit last week and you can bank on me wearing one Friday