“At a recent workshop, your instructor emphasized the importance of wearing a well-assembled suit to a job interview. While I’m sure there are jobs that would require this level of formality, it’s just overdoing it in technical fields, where casual reigns supreme.”
This matter of ‘overdoing’ interview attire was first brought to my attention by my friend Joyce Donahue, who’s a career counselor in the Fulton School of Engineering at Arizona State University, and has constant access to students’ concerns. Yet I’ve been shocked to discover how pervasive the sentiment really is among our best and brightest. While business-types, by default, don the classic suit for the job hunt, techies and liberal arts folks tend to either a) dress to make an impression, or b) dress like they’re going to class. And although graduating MBA students, who ought to know better, frequently sport a flashy backpack with their three-button merino, they, at least, are trying to get a job, while many of their fellow career seekers are sabotaging themselves with their refusal to conform.
The fact of the matter is if you want The Man’s money, you have to do what The Man wants. And The Man wants you to dress like He does.
Before I expound, I’ll first acknowledge that someone, somewhere, gets a great job every twelve minutes, despite not being dressed appropriately. When it comes down to it, an employer would be a fool not to hire the perfect candidate just because she wore an orange jacket, torn jeans or too much makeup to her interview. Our mission, therefore, is based on the knowledge that ninety-nine times out of a hundred, the employer is a fool, the applicant isn’t perfect, or the applicant has worthy competition. Many positions simply require an element of presentability, and sporting a purple shirt and tie to an interview can immediately disqualify an otherwise sound candidate. What’s more, a great first impression, based largely on appearance, can compensate for weakness in other areas, making a better-attired job seeker more desirable than someone better suited to the work.
Secondly, I’ll acknowledge that omitting a tie and jacket for an interview might be just fine, in certain situations. Microsoft, possibly the most powerful non-governmental, non-ecclesiastic entity in the history of the world, endorses a rather dressed-down version of Business Casual (an enigmatic institution in itself, on which I’m happy to enlighten the reader at any other time), at least on the technical side. They are quite unique in advising candidates, via their career page, to “Dress comfortably. Wear whatever makes you comfortable in an interview. Microsoft prizes intelligence and contribution over style.” A Microsoft recruiter, who identified herself as Gretchen in a recent blog, stated that when interviewing for a technical position, this advice should be taken quite literally, as long as khakis and a polo shirt make you comfortable (no pajamas). If, however, you want a job in finance, marketing, legal, consulting, etc., Microsoft recruiters recommend you learn to feel comfortable in a suit.
Perhaps a small majority of American businesses endorse a similar attitude toward workplace attire, hence the confusion. When visiting a workplace, a casual observer would note that Business Casual is standard, and would, quite naturally, assume that an interview at that company would call for the same level of formality. And in this, the observer would be wrong. Whether as a result of tradition, social conditioning or the desire to simply see you at your best, hiring managers expect you to wear a suit to an interview, regardless of the job (white collar job, that is).
In other words, unless you’re a gifted engineer who is determined to work for Microsoft or not at all, you should invest in a conservative, wool suit in dark grey, navy blue or, if you’re female, black.
Prior to endorsing this bold statement in the name of all employers, I visited Joyce in Tempe, AZ, where she was overseeing a career fair on ASU’s campus, and had invited me to do some research. Of course, I figured that I may have been simply out of touch, that the world had gone casual and I hadn’t noticed. Maybe I was out of line in sending struggling students off to Nordstrom, where they would squander their meager savings on a suit they wouldn’t use until they started attending weekly funerals forty years down the road. If so, I would have to change my tune.
The recruiters at the fair were tech companies seeking engineers – there was no need to research the finance career fair, as I already knew what the results would be. Prior to gathering data, Joyce and I discussed our hypothesis, both feeling that applicants should dress as conservatively as possible for interviews. And thence to the front, where I began the survey.
Upon entering the room, I was shocked by what I saw. Of the roughly one hundred recruiters, all but two were wearing branded polo shirts or button downs. Of the students, maybe one in ten was in a suit, four in ten could have gotten in to the country club on a Thursday morning, and half looked like they had stumbled out of class, having stumbled out of bed earlier that afternoon.
Of the two suited recruiters, the male one represented NAVSEA, a military organization that outfits the world’s strongest navy, responsible for shipbuilding, weaponry and all the systems to control them. I asked him what entry-level tech applicants were wearing for their interviews, and what they should be wearing. After citing the proverb about dressing for the job you want, not the one you have, he went on “we’re a pretty laid-back organization, but if you don’t take the interview seriously, you won’t take the job seriously.” While people at NAVSEA come to work on the average day in Business Casual, he strongly recommended a suit for the interview. This was echoed by almost every recruiter I met that day.
Shanell Crabtree, representing ATK, one of the nations largest aerospace and defense companies, told me “I’ve actually had hiring managers – engineers – come to me and say ‘he wasn’t dressed nice enough.’” She then mentioned why recruiters came in oxfords with logos, while expecting applicants to dress much better. “We come casual to show our brands,” but as a chief ATK recruiter once told a group of subordinates “you should know how to dress up.”
A Lockheed Martin representative named Russell was still more emphatic. “Suit and tie! I want to know that you respect the job.”
Climatec manager Brian McAuliffe agreed. He felt that dressing too casually was irresponsible, but too flashy was just as bad. We talked for several minutes about the common tendency to try and make an impression on a recruiter by wearing bright colors, a wacky hairdo or some absurd attempt at a trademark, like no socks. He seconded my suggestion to dress classically and conservatively, and let your abilities speak for themselves. If a person is unremarkable, flashy clothes will simply draw attention to that fact. “I don’t see guys trying to get a job” was his complaint against the lackadaisical appearance of so many otherwise-competent candidates.
It’s generally understood that people in the Southwest dress more casually than people elsewhere, hence the general look of the job seekers in the room, and this was reinforced by two of the three Arizona-based companies I met. Raytheon, while based in New England, had sent a representative from Tucson to hire for their local facilities. He felt a shirt and tie was fine for an interview in those parts – no jacket necessary. APS had no specific recommendations for clothes, but did consider appearance an integral part of their company culture. “We don’t necessarily need a formal dress; what we’re looking for is neat and clean,” said Barbara McMinn, a veteran with the company. U-Haul International, on the other hand, is a long-time Phoenix installment whose company culture embraces a traditional appearance. “I’d be shocked it they didn’t [wear a suit]” one recruiter said of successful applicants, and another nodded assent. “A lot of the entry-level applicants – it’s ridiculous what they come it wearing.”
I was please to report to Joyce that our hypothesis had been correct – and that even the people who didn’t mandate a business suit for an interview wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with it. While an applicant could easily contact a company’s HR department and find out just how casual a getup he might get away with (with the exception of ATK, which doesn’t volunteer that information, prefering to see if you can wear a suit on your own), there was no danger in dressing too traditionally. A conservative suit (and tie, for men) is a safe bet all around, and the default, go-to outfit for any job but cashier-at-a-teeny-bopper-boutique.
Computer programmers, as can be expected, seem to be the variable, but only to a point. Eshe Pickett, cheerfully representing Intel, seemed to have an inside perspective to the company, being foremost an engineer and, occasionally, a recruiter. She felt it best to dress up when interviewing with management, and dress the part when meeting with engineers in project development. While some Intel engineers, like those at ATK, seem to have a low tolerance for those who dress – and would no doubt treat their work – casually, there are others for whom an unconventional look might actually increase their chances of being hired. “If you got a group of rebel geeks and they saw your long hair, tattoos and tattered rags, they’d think ‘righteous!’ That’s our guy.”
“But how would you know which group you were going to get?” I inquired.
“It would be a gamble.”