What do YOU wear to a job interview?

Having been to a couple interviews myself lately, this topic has been on my mind. I spent several hours trying on different things before my last interview!

I work in a creative field, so it's a tough call what to wear to an interview. The offices I work in, you usually see people working in jeans. So you don't want to be over dressed! I would never wear a skirt to an interview in my field. I would appear too uptight. (Unless I wore a flowy skirt of course, which would be too relaxed.)

For this job I'm currently being considered for, I wore nice black slacks with a raspberry colored top and a black velvet blazer. With funky shoes I knew the interviewer liked. (She complimented me on them the first time we met when my old boss introduced us.)

But then I got asked back for a second interview. Which was fantastic, but what could I wear?? I went for a suit on the casual side. Waist length jacket. A blue shirt underneath. My roommate said I looked like a Girl Scout leader. :p But it was the best option I had.

What do you all wear to interviews?

I'm in a traditional financial field. I happen to be interviewing right now, and I just bought a gorgeous Trihari suit over the weekend at Macy's. It's black, single breasted, with broken pinstriping. The broken aspect of the pinstriping keeps it from looking stuffy, if that makes sense. The skirt is straight and falls just below the knee.

If I get the job, I'll be so happy--maybe I'll do a self-portrait of me in the suit and post it.

I want to get a maroon shell blouse to go with it. Beige and white are too conservative, pink is too wishy-washy. Maroon or burgundy are power colors! Second choice for the blouse is periwinkle blue--a "smart" and "calm" color.

Elissa

ooh Elissa, your new suit sounds terrific! I bet you look very professional in it. My black blazer is pinstripe too. I think that's great.

And we obviously agree about the burgundy and maroon! The raspberry shirt I wore with my blazer was a deep raspberry, on the maroon side, not too bright. And my second outfit, my blue shirt wasn't periwinkle... but it was a nice blue... I dunno how to describe it. Not robin's egg, but close. More rich.

They say green is a bad color to wear to interviews. I read it reminds people of money, and I don't think it's too flattering.
Too bad, cuz I have a nice moss green suit.

Good luck with your job interviewing Elissa! Knock 'em dead!

well, being done with grad school interviews, my suit was actually from different stores. I found this lovely pair of black pinstripe pants at Ann Taylor, that went well with a burgundy shirt that I had in my closet. To finish it off, I wore either a black long coat (interviews were in Feb), or a short black jacket. I'm in the sciences, but didn't want to wear a very formal suit because of other events happening the day of the interview, and I think it's nice to convey a young and hip style, like how professors want to find young minds in the field.

my "real" (more formal) suit is a blue jacket with a knee-length blue skirt, which also goes with the burgundy shirt, but goes really well with a white low-neck tee.

That sounds good, Purple. Did you get into the grad school you wanted to?

I agree, it's good to appear young and on the hip side, instead of too stuffy, as a regular suit looks.

Elisa, your combo sounds fab! I love pinstripes provided if they're spaced widely, not narrowly and faint, not strong. I like the idea about burgundy or maroon tops or even periwinkle blue.

But I have a navy blue double breasted pantsuit I only wear to interviews (which I had some lately and another one this week), what color top should I go with this navy blue? Periwinkle? I only have white top to go with it so far but I also wore a buttoned vertically striped blouse in varying hues of blue with my suit once. Is that acceptable?

On the side note, I wish everybody luck getting the jobs you want! :)

Thanks for the votes of confidence Beachgerl and Supergrover.

Beachgerl, I like a cream colored blouse with navy blue, or maroon. Or Periwinkle. The striped blouse sounds fine, I am sure that's acceptable too.

Supergrover: They had these fabulous shells at Dress Barn, buy one get one half off for $20 each. I tried on a gorgeous periwinkle blue in M, and it was cut really huge so I couldn't get it. I ended up getting olive green for the interview Thursday! Oh no! I am going to try not to let this bother me because I really like the blouse and I don't have time to do blouse shopping again. The other one I picked up is black, can't wear that with the black suit. Plus, the green matches my eyes.

I wish I had read this thread before shopping. I hope the green is all right!

Elissa
Getting panicky now

Elissa! I'm sure the green shell is fine. Don't worry! I read that you want to dress for an interview so that they can't even remember your clothes. All they can remember is you. :)

You can hardly see shells under a suit anyway. Green is a nice and subtle.

When was/is your interview? How'd it go?

And Beachgerl, your striped blue shirt sounds fine with a navy suit to me. What field do you work in? Maybe you could make it more creative/stylish with a cutesy pink top underneath, or bright (but not obnoxious) lighter blue?

Thanks SuperGrover, my interview is tommorow, late afternoon. I will report in later tomorrow night.

Elissa

It went well! And I looked and felt fab!

Now the wait...

YEAAAAH!

I hope you get the job!
Misery likes company. I've been waiting to hear about mine for two weeks now.

I'm calling tomorrow!

SuperGrover, I did get into the grad school I wanted to... I'm so happpy.

YEAAAAH!

That's awesome! I'd love to go back to school. Do you start in the fall?

Yes I do!!

I am just here venting. I am STILL WAITING to hear from people I met with last Friday. I LOVE this organization!

The person I met with (Exec. Director i.e. President) loved me, kept me there two hours, sent me uptown to meet with the Board of Directors treasurer, and had me meet with the Board president this past Monday. They still have not called my references (I emailed my refs and they told me). I could have sworn I was about to get an offer!

I hate waiting!!!!!!!!! You would think they'd be afraid someone else would snap me up if they really wanted me. When I hire people, I MOVE ON IT.

I hate this! I have a big fat mortgage to pay and a $350/mth COBRA check to write. I want this job!!!!

I really needed to vent. My fiancee and friends at home must be getting sick of hearing it, so it's your turn. Sorry guys!!!

By the way--they wear JEANS, just like at my last job. To me, that's a fashion dream job.

Elissa

Oh Elissa! I feel your pain! I just waited 3 weeks to hear about a job. 3 weeks from the time they told me I would hear by. It was more like 6 weeks from the first interview.

For those last 3 weeks, I called 2 or 3 times a week to check in and I just got voice mail and no one called me back.

Anyway, I don't want to discourage you, but I didn't get the job. But that's OK, because what I REALLY want to do is work on starting my own company. That however doesn't give me the salary and benefits and tuition reimbursement that this job would have given me. Grrrr.

So I may try to start grad school in January anyhow. I need to fill out applications now. I don't know if I qualify for scholarships, since my husband works full time.
Unfortunately, I have expensive tastes in grad schools. The only schools I really want to go to are NYU or Teacher's College at Columbia. They are both like $10,000 a semester, so I'm looking at racking up 40,000 in debt to complete a degree. Yikes!
Those are the only schools around here that offer good programs in what I want to do. Which is to say that they allow you the freedom to create your own program. I need to study about business management, creating educational media for kids, and mathematics education. I could go to UConn for free if I taught a course. But UConn doesn't offer a program of study that meets my needs.

I do feel like I need more education before I could successfully open a business... so I think grad school is a necessity. I just hope my business will be successful so I can pay off those student loans I'll have! It's a gamble.

And I also agree that they should snatch you up! I used to hire interns, and my boss would always want me to wait to hire people for some reason or another. Then when she finally gave me the go ahead to hire them, the best candidates were already taken by someone else! Which is awful that we made them wait so long, because I think many of them would have rather interned with us. And of course, we were stuck with B quality interns for a semester.

What is the matter with people?

I know I'm a good worker... but I obviously have a hard time communicating that in an interview.

Thanks for the encouragement, SG. I think going to grad school is a great idea! If that's what your heart truly desires, I say go for it. Better to get loans than to not go. And if your grades are spectacular, you will be able to get some merit-based awards as you progress.

I totally agree with you about hiring good candidates quickly. I hate the way these people wait and wait, it's so stupid.

I am going to try really hard to keep busy this week so that I don't go crazy waiting. I have another interview tomorrow, and I am keeping busy with wedding plans. Today I am going wedding dress shopping with my mother in law to be!!!!!

Elissa
xoxoxoxo

Elissa, I pray you'll get that job you really want! It sounds like you really need it and that you're really qualified for it. I think you can do this but I agree about keeping people waiting too long. Some companies are awful like that just because they're in driver's seat now. Did you follow up yet?

SuperGrover, it doesn't really require a grad. degree to set up a business, it really depends on the type of business you're thinking about. If you already have lots of knowledge or experience in this type of business, you can go ahead. Like I am doing, too, although I'm not sure about the competition, though. I do freelance projects such as design and writing.

About that interview I went on which I mentioned above, today is official and I got the job at that company I'm interested in. Yay. I guess my professional image and skills must've wowed them or something. But I was so surprised they made me an offer. So I'm busy now lol relocating and all of that.

I hope you both will have good news very soon like I did! :)

YAY! Way to go Beachgerl! How exciting, a new job and a new town! Do you already have friends or family in this new place? You know, you can always come here for friendship.

Thanks for the good wishes. I just went on interview #2 with job #2 (I'm vying for two of them right now). I suspect that I will get an offer, but it's the other one that I really want more. I left a voicemail for the decision maker yesterday at 4, and have not had my call returned yet. That's not how people typically treat someone they are hot for. This other job, it's a good one but it's not in a good neighborhood. But I will take it if the other one doesn't come through (and if I am offered it, of course).

Hopefully, soon, all three of us will have wonderful brand-new jobs.

Elissa

I AM OFFICIALLY EMPLOYED!!!!!!!!

(or at least I will be, starting Monday!)

wohhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooo!


Thanks to my hair talk family for all of your support!

Love,

Elissa

Yeah!!! *Doin' the new job dance*

Kick ass, girlfriend!

Thank you Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh elissa that is so awesome! i'm glad you shared it with us

I want to only do work where I can wear my jeans and don't believe in dressing up to impress. Plus I just don't want to dress up. For my interview for my last job in Canada, I did a "minimum" of dressing up in dress pants, a turtleneck and nice shoes. Thereafter, my boss (a wonderful lady) never saw me in anything but jeans, but I did dress up a bit at the interview, as many interviewers may still expect that from you. However, when I came to Prague to work as an English teacher, I went to several interviews and decided to see what would happen if I wore jeans. Although one guy didn't like my appearance (an older, apparently conservative and not very pleasant fellow that I'm glad I don't work for), I got work in 2 schools, at least one other offer and apparent considerations, and one lady would gladly have given me work, but didn't have any, so she got me private students! Thus I was quite successful, despite wearing jeans. I do not ENDORSE what I did, however, because that seems to have worked for ME. The Czechs seem to not be so superficial, and they have a need for English teachers. I like it here enough that I'm seriously considering staying, maybe even marrying one of the local beauties. But this may not work in North America or for your particular interviewers, so if you wear jeans to your white collar etc job interview, YOU DO SO AT OWN RISK.