"...did you wear a suit"
I guess it might depend on the industry, but at most interviews I have done, the expectation has been to just wear jeans and whatever. I usually go with jeans and a polo shirt for safety.
I guess it might depend on the industry, but at most interviews I have done, the expectation has been to just wear jeans and whatever. I usually go with jeans and a polo shirt for safety.
It really depends on the place. If there's a recruiter involved, ask them. Otherwise, (the following is based on my experience in the US, YMMV, etc), if they're not a software company, or are a defense contractor or similar, probably safest to go with a suit. If they are a software company, business casual is probably fine. If they're a startup, jeans and a t-shirt is probably fine. If you're uncertain, consider dressing up slightly; i.e., you think jeans and a t-shirt is fine but aren't sure; go with khakis and a polo. You think business casual is okay but aren't sure, go with a dress shirt and slacks.
In general the commentary along the lines of "would you want to work there if they judged you on your clothes?" is probably true, however it misses a major point. In many roles, roles you may even enjoy, you will interact with executives or with customers, at some level. Even if that doesn't entail dressing up (and oftentimes it won't), being able to show that you can exude professionalism during the interview shows that you can do it in such a situation, and it's generally easier to do that when dressed nicely (though balance it against the discomfort of wearing something you're unaccustomed to).
Am I the only one who thinks this game should be played the other way around?
If a company needs my services, they should impress me. I am not a model and I am sure as hell not a wage slave. I don't do CVs, and I sure as hell don't talk to HR. I am performing a necessary duty, if I can fill my role then my other traits will be catered for.
From my experience some basic self respect ensures you only end up with good jobs. The positions you have to bend for are not worth bending for imho.
But it is still less arrogant by far than the attitude of most employers with open positions that I have encountered.
The "game" should be played with equal respect offered by both sides. Both parties are vetting the other before entering into a potentially long-term relationship. It is not the time to play stupid dominance games. I expect that equal effort should be expended on trying to convince me to work there as is spent trying to ascertain whether I am qualified to do so. If I spend a full day of my time jumping through hoops, I expect to see the company sacrificing a significant effort in exchange, trying to convince me to work there.
If you hear even an inkling of a suggestion that the company is trying to "avoid wasting interviewers' time," just say, "thank you for this, but I wouldn't want any more of anyone's time to be wasted," exit as gracefully as possible, and cross that company off your list. Then do the rest of us a favor, and post a negative review of the interview. Time spent on recruiting is an investment that might not pay off, never a waste. And nobody involved should be disrespectful of the other's time or preferences.
All the talk of respect and time wasting and efficiency is missing the point. Arrogance is a tactic and if it works for you at your level, then more power to you.
That is, it is much more expensive for me to get the wrong candidate, than to pay a little too much for a good one.
If we're being honest, early Engineers on a project can create millions in wealth for the investors. That they're paid a few percent of that is where the 'peanuts' come in. It all seems reasonable the way its laid out.
As a consultant, I charged many times what I'd earn as an employee. And they paid - because they were in a tight spot, and the only way to get the job done was to pay what it was worth. And that's arguably what their own Engineers are worth too, but have been negotiated down from.
So sure, while this is working for you right now, keep it in mind in the future when this bubble bursts.
I do find it interesting that an adult with professional career in the western world doesn't own at least 1 set of "professional" clothes. What do you wear to weddings and funerals?
It's just that I am not willing to compromise on my interpretation of "business attire". I consider it quite offensive to openly criticize based on looks. If anybody would consider my jeans unfitting then that's their problem as I have a very good reason to wear jeans (exclusively). I wear clothes because I like them and I consider them fitting.
On weddings and funerals: Depends on the wedding or funeral, chances are I wont be going to "suit-weddings" and on funerals I reckon the dead person respected me well enough to trust my choice of attire.
> So sure, while this is working for you right now, keep it in mind in the future when this bubble bursts.
I am not in a bubble. :) I have chosen a profession which is unlikely to die off very soon, I invested a lot into being good in my profession and when my industry is no longer my market then I am in the wrong industry.
Edit: For context, I am not an employee, I am a consultant. I don't have a boss, I only have customers. I was an employee before and I didn't like it.
I don't know if the smiley is supposed to indicate this comment is a joke, but you must be aware that this comment is a joke, right?
Here are my basic rules on Interview dressing:
1 When in doubt, wear a suit. For all lifes clothing decisions, better to be over, than under dressed 2 Ask a recruiter whats appropriate, if you are dealing with one. 3 Whatever you wear, make sure it looks nice (no stains, ironed, fits well,etc)
How someone is dressed is a very small part of hiring (in the tech world, less so for other professions), but it does speak to attention to detail, and how they see themselves. Given two equally skilled candidates the one who presents themselves best (attire wise) is going to get the nod.
And a sense of fashion is relevant to the job...how, exactly?
This is RTFM for life type stuff. Seriously its two seconds to google for "rules of the interview" or some other such thing. Do you know any Good devs who wouldn't reference the docs for an api they are working on? Same type of thing, read the docs goes along way with a lot of things.
Its not a deal breaker, but when you have limited time in which to evaluate someone you learn to have lots of little things add up to a picture of someone. That's what I mean by that.
Are you sure you don't want to take a bit of time and rethink that?
As general advice, this is wrong. There are a lot of positions where wearing a suit to the interview would automatically mean you won't get hired.
Of course, it depends on the locale, the position, &c, but the idea that a suit is always safe is somewhat outdated.
If I were interviewing in finance, I would definitely wear a suit. If I were interviewing at a startup or a digital agency, or equivalent, I would wear smart trousers (maybe smart jeans) and a shirt. That's playing it safe. Sometimes I interview people who are wearing jeans and a t-shirt and generally look pretty scruffy - I know that they know that that is probably the attire most of their potential future colleagues will be wearing, but it certainly doesn't impress me much. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned.
I thought there was a lot of good advice in those slides, incidentally.
They're simply looking for someone who doesn't dress up because they believe that will indicate someone that they'd want to hire. You, as the applicant, may not be aware of this because there's often incomplete information on both sides of the table (that's what the interview is for). You can always ask indirectly, stop by their place and peek through the windows, or research this information yourself, like looking at company photos. Or you can just do what I do and dress up anyway because someone who believes that dressing up is a negative mark is probably not compatible with me.
It's come up a few times on HN that some companies do do this. They are widely regarded as completely nuts.
> When he walked in the door, we could hear the clacking of his shoes on our hardwood floor. He was dressed impeccably in a suit that probably cost more than my first car and was carrying one of those leathery-thingys that seemed to exist only for the purpose of being carried during interviews.
> I stole a glance to a few of the people from my team who had looked up when he walked in. I could sense the disappointment.
> We’re all happily wearing blue jeans and sneakers. It’s not that we’re so petty or strict about the dress code that we are going to disqualify him for not following an unwritten rule, but we know empirically that people who come in dressed in suits rarely work out well for our team.
> He was failing the go-out-for-a-beer test and he didn’t even know it.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140618142018/http://blog.42floo...
I wasn't offered either of the positions. No idea if the way I dressed had any bearing on it.
For interviews I'd always just dress smart but not wear a suit unless I believe there will be at least one more person in the office wearing a suit. Dress for confidence. Being overdressed and uncomfortable (if you aren't used to wearing suits) isn't a confidence booster. Just be clean and at least as smart looking as the person interviewing.
I actually dressed up once for an interview with Peter Molyneux and the first thing he said before even shaking hands was "oh, you dressed up" with a very confused face.