Dressing For The Job Interview
It seems absurd that anyone would come to a job interview in anything but professional attire. Interviewers have seen it all: people coming to a job interview in shorts and tank top, or a mustard-stained tie. What you wear is as much a reflection on you as the job listings in your resume.
Your dress shows two things: how you’ll dress if you’re hired and you’re professionalism. If you can’t manage to keep mustard off your tie, how can a job recruiter think that you’ll manage to keep a clean workspace? Clothes should demonstrate an attention to detail just like your resume. It is the one time that an interviewer is going to get to take a look at you, so be sure to make a good impression.
In some respects, this depends on the nature of the job. Certainly in recent years, the dress code has become more lax. In the past, no man would go without a suit and even a hat. In today’s workplace, casual Fridays may be week long. In a job interview for certain Internet companies, for example, the dress code will not be as strict as a job on Wall Street.
Unless you have a very good idea of the dress code, you should err on the side of caution. While a suit might not always be necessary, you should wear an ironed, button-down shirt, tucked into pressed slacks, with a belt. In some cases, wearing a suit can be a detriment: it will make the candidate look too much like a stuffed shirt.
In most cases, wearing a suit is advisable, even if it’s not the common dress code. A suit makes the man—so a suit can make a candidate look authoritative and upright. For women, it’s important to not wear anything to low-cut or provocative. Makeup should be understated as well. For both men and women, jewelry should be kept to a minimum.
At the same time, many candidates want to exhibit their particular flair for fashion—whether it’s a hairstyle, earrings, or daily dress. This mode of thinking is: if I can’t be who I am, then I don’t want this job. Fair enough, but don’t be surprised if you don’t get the job. Employers do like employees with a little personality, but there’s a line between showing off your style and being belligerent about your appearance. Most candidates are able to reach a happy medium: dress that shows of a certain style, while still being a bit more professional and understated.
For shoes, men should wear plain, unscuffed black shoes. Women should wear shoes with minimum heels. Fashion styles change so heels may become more common in the workplace. Generally, though, understated shoes are recommended.
Some other things to consider: anti-perspirent. It’s hard to look calm, cool, and collected when you have sweat stains under your arms. If you sweat a lot, you’re bound to sweat even more under the pressure of an interview. Breath freshener is also a very good idea. Anxiety is not great for breath and bad breath can make an interview downright unpleasant.
Preparing For An Interview
Strangely enough, many prospective employees don’t prepare for job interviews with the same diligence that they put together a resume. In many respects the interview is even more important than the resume. Certainly, you won’t even get to the interview without a good resume, but a good interview is what ultimately makes or breaks you getting the job.
Just as you’ve gone through your resume and summarized the most salient points from your job history, you should have a clear idea of what you want to express in an interview. Go through your resume again and decide the most important points that you want to cover in an interview.
An interview needs to be as concise as a resume. If you don’t have a clear idea about what you want to say ahead of time, nerves may get a hold of you and you’ll be in danger of incoherence. Worse case scenario, of course, but it is vitally important to speak with confidence and forcefulness. Having a basic script before you enter an interview is a sure fire way to make this possible.
One way to do this is to write a short essay about your work experience. At first this can be a general assessment of your skills, talent, and experience. Later you can cater this to each individual interview—covering topics that are directly related to the job. Writing out potential interview answers is good practice for the interview. If you’re not comfortable writing an extended assessment of yourself, then speak into a tape recorder. Another method is to act out an interview with someone close to you.
These tactics are mainly useful if you are just beginning to enter the workforce. After a series of interviews, you’re likely to get the hang of it. Like anything, good interviewing takes practice. However, you should never stop preparing for an interview. Every company is different so you should have answers that specifically address the job you’re applying for.
There are some issues that can only partially be prepared for in advance. For instance, you have to be able to read your interviewer, and this can only be done once you get to the interviewer. Some interviews will have a good chemistry, some will not: that’s a fact of life. But there are ways to make the most out of an interview even if it doesn’t seem to be going well.
You must be able to adapt to the personality of the interviewer. If your original game plan doesn’t seem to be working, change tactics. You should have a few different answers for the same question. Some interviewers may not want a laundry list of experience and former responsibilities. Some interviewers may be more generally goal-oriented—what you hope to achieve, what you want out of life, rather than how many words you can type a minute. Your interview must correspond to the interviewers personality type.
Some other things you can do to prepare for an interview: iron your clothes, look presentable, and shine those shoes. The last one can actually be very important. Believe it or not, some interviewers take a lot from the state of a person’s shoes. Finally, turn off your cell phone. It can be rude and unprofessional to have a cell phone go off in the middle of an interview.
