I had a hearty chuckle when I saw this tweet last week from @employmentguru (aka Jay Hofmeister of the Resume Bay):
“What is proper business attire for job fairs? Dispatch had a picture of people at a job fair, I thought it was Woodstock”
But this weekend, when flipping through the New York Post, an op-ed piece entitled “Schlub Nation” caught my eye. The writer Faran Krentcil lamented about the prevalence of mourners at Ted Kennedy’s wake dressed in flip-flops, undershirts and dirty tees.
Dress to impress or dress to include?
Krentcil argues that putting the effort into dressing well for important events—like weddings, wakes, job interviews—shows as much respect for the other person as it does for yourself. “Aren’t you better than a ripped t-shirt with a mustard stain on the collar?” he asks.
We’ve all heard the saying, “You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover,” but should we?
I admit that since moving to Florida from New York City, my everyday dress is much more casual. I have driven to Whole Foods wearing flip-flops, for example, where I’d never worn flip-flops before except for maybe the locker room at the gym. But I still dress up for speaking engagements, business meetings, television appearances. When I’m in the spotlight, wearing good quality, nice fitting clothes makes me feel more authoritative. I’m happy to have all eyes looking at me, and looking pulled together reinforces my personal brand.
My husband and I had a discussion recently about what advice he should give to a friend who is interviewing for a job with my husband’s employer, a Fortune 500 bank with a very casual dress code. He thought his friend might stick out in a bad way if he came in a suit. He would look “too New York” for this non-New York crowd.
I said that while I understood his point, if I were interviewing someone, no matter how I personally was dressed, I’d expect the candidate to be wearing a suit and tie. What you dress like when you have the job is one thing, but I don’t think it ever hurts to dress up to get the job.
But that’s just me. How do YOU feel?
Reader feedback wanted
Since readers of the Personal Branding Blog are pretty diverse, I thought it might be enlightening to get your opinion and I’ll summarize the findings in a future post. Here are some questions to get you started:
What style of dress is most consistent with your personal brand?
Thinking about the one or two standard deviations away from the middle of the bell curve rather the extremes…Do you feel better in business situations when you’re dressed a bit better than average? Or is it more important for you to blend in, maybe dress down slightly so as not to make a big deal about appearance?
Do you have a higher opinion of someone who is dressed a bit better than average?
If you weren’t sure of the implicit dress code, would you tend to dress up, dress down or dress consistently with your personal brand whatever that happens to be?
I’d love to know your thoughts.
Author:
Liz Lynch is founder of the Center for Networking Excellence and author of Smart Networking: Attract a Following In Person and Online (McGraw-Hill, 2008). She writes, speaks and consults to experienced professionals on how to seamlessly integrate social media and traditional networking to save time and accelerate results.
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I always dress professionally when teaching (even though I live in casual Florida area) as I believe the students need role models today.
Great post and I would have to agree with the comments that have been made. That first impression is so important. If you are well dressed and look put together, people will immediately assume you are. I’ve never heard that mantra that people have posted, but I have lived by it throughout my career. How you dress makes a difference in your attitude, your presentation, and how you carry yourself.
I agree with a lot of this.
Our office has a “dress for the day” dress code – basically if you are not interacting w/ execs, customers, or in my case-prospective employees – we can dress in jeans. I never wear T-shirts or sneakers even though they are allowed, I do like to wear a button-down, maybe rolled-up sleeves, and/or a blazer w/ black shoes so I do give off a little more of an ‘”authoritative” vibe. When interviewing I expect candidates to be dressed well, and the same goes for job fairs. I may dress to reflect our office culture at a job fair, but candidates should be wearing suits….no exceptions!
Until 6 years ago, I would have agreed completely with wearing a suit/tie in every situation. Now, however, I agree with your husband. I am in the advertising photography business, & when someone shows up in a suit & tie I know they don’t have a lot of experience with our industry, no matter what their resume says. I immediately worry if they will “fit in.” In a creative field, it’s important to know ahead of time what the normal attire is, & dress 1 notch up from that. Do your homework. “Dressed up” in a studio or most ad agencies might just be jeans & a jacket. (Or a cute, fashionable dress for a woman.) Wear a suit & tie & it might actually hurt your interview. I believe in all situations, though, that you need to appear “put together” as Elizabeth noted. Confidence makes a considerable difference, so make certain you feel like a rock star, which likely means dressing “up” from your norm.
I agree with the POV that suit and tie is NOT always the right norm for interview or other formal engagements. You need to show that you understand your audience. For a job interview, it’s about showing you can fit into the culture. You should always dress just one notch up from the interviewer’s dress. If it’s a jeans culture, you showing up with suit and tie would show that you don’t understand the culture.
Though, when in doubt, show up with a jacket and tie. You could always take them off. For women, I personally find dress suits very versatile. If I need to go formal, put the jacket on. If I don’t, just wear the dress underneath.
I’ve just read the book “What does it take to get a job around here? 44 Insider Secrets that will get you hired” by Cynthia Shapiro.
The book says it’s better to be overdressed than underdressed so you should wear formal attire – a suit and tie for men and the equivalent for women. Then if you get there and everyone is in jeans you can neutralise that with a breezy comment “I see you have casual dress here, what a great benefit”.
If you want to stand out among a pool of interviewees then dress up. The impression that you’ll create depends on how people will perceive you. I think suit and tie is not always applicable in every job interview. Sometimes, you have to weigh things out; there is always an exemption to every rule.
From what I learned with my friend during an interview in a hospital, the interviewer personally thanked them from dressing up, but they didn’t necessarily wear business attires; just clothes which make them look presentable which also reflected their sincerity and efforts to grab the job. ss
As far as interviewing goes, I believe that is is better to be overdressed than underdressed. After the candidate is offered the job, they can then begin to tailor their attire to the company’s standards. It is better to stand out for being overdressed than to stand out for looking like a mess in the interviewer’s eyes.
Personally, I feel more confident if I have taken the time to assure that I look polished and put together, even if I’m dressed casually. I believe that a person’s personal brand and personality can shine through with their clothing choices, and still look polished and professional at the same time. Making a little extra effort to do this will create the impression to others that this effort translates into other areas of the person’s life, and that is definitely a good thing.
As a professional photographer who specializes in business head shots I always encourage clients to error on the side of dressing up a bit. However, I’ve made a point now, when attending networking events with a membership of young jean-wearing social media networking types that I wear jeans but a very nice blouse, sweater, blazer, jewelry accessories.