Solids always look good. Pepper Potts rocks a simple and elegant style.

Ask your HR person about your dress for the interview dress code

Because I am in HR, I seem to get a lot of questions about the interview process.  Lately, I have been asked a lot of “dress for interview” questions like “Can I wear this or can I wear that?” to an interview more and more.

The point I always try to drive at the end of the conversation: If you have to ask, you probably already know the answer.  You can come to me, HRNasty, the all-mighty when it comes to job interviews, hoping for some validation and permission to do what you already suspect is out-of-bounds, but I am no pushover.  If you have ANY sense of fashion, prove it by wearing the appropriate ensemble at the appropriate time.  Get a job as a model/rock star/fashion designer.

Be noticed for your skillset, not your lack of fashion sense 

When you dress for interviews, your outfit shouldn’t be noticed.  You want to be remembered for answering interview questions and not your outfit.  This means you don’t want your outfit to stick out in a good way. You don’t want to stick out in a bad way.  A Prada bag sticks out for roles that pay less than $200K annually.  Pants that are too short stick out.  Cologne and perfume will stick out and can cause an allergic reaction.  Your college athletic backpack with your suit sticks out.  Fly under the radar.

I answer these questions with a “What makes you think you shouldn’t wear that?” or “What is your concern?”  (Yes, I know it sounds like a counselor, parent, or the dreaded HR, but I am what I is!)

More often than not, the candidate figures out pretty quickly and on their own that it would be better to “not” wear the article in question and upset the dress for interview code.  I usually don’t have to say anything, and isn’t that how a good mentor rolls?

Common dress for interview questions

• Can I wear my new phat watch?  (too much bling)
• Can I wear a suede skirt?  (Suede in Seattle????  Suede to an interview?  Are you applying to an S&M shop?)
• Should I take out my 3^rd and 4^th earrings?  (Are you auditioning for a heavy metal band?)
• Should I take out my nose ring? (see above)
• Should I cover my tattoo? (see this blog post)
• Is my skirt too short?  (I’d have to see it on first, why don’t you model it for me)

Nine times out of ten, the candidate seems to talk through it for less than 30 seconds and makes the right decision.

It is almost as if they KNOW the right answer but don’t want to admit it to themselves, so they ask.  If I the professional HR guy like me will permit them, it is “OK” and they can blame someone else.

I have said this in the past: I don’t have children. .  .

Is it a runway or a corporate environment?

For just a minute, let’s forget about how cool, hip, or Vogue your sense of fashion is.  An interview isn’t a fashion show, and it certainly isn’t a club.  We aren’t selling individuality here.  Nine times out of ten we are selling “team player”.  Teams have uniforms that help them unify.   

I hear the following arguments regularly when dress-for-interview discussions come up:

• “If they don’t want to hire me because of my shoes, then I don’t want to work there.”
• “If they don’t like my 3^rd and 4^th earrings, forget them.”
• “Everyone has a tattoo, which personally means a lot to me.”

My argument for the appropriate image  

Get the job offer first, then ask if your earrings, flamboyant color, or t-shirt with a blazer are appropriate.  If the company isn’t for you, YOU are in a position to decline the company. The company isn’t declining you.  But give yourself the option to be the one doing the decline.  Don’t give this option to the hiring company.

Wearing multiple earrings and a suede skirt may give you confidence, but confidence can also come from the fact that you KNOW you aren’t going to get kicked out of the interview loop for wearing what is considered inappropriate.  If you want confidence, wear your sexy thong or your Valentine’s evening panties.  Most of us want the option to decline the company after an offer is given versus being declined before we get a chance to show off our skill set.

Employers want to hire candidates they can send out to customers and vendors.  Hiring companies want employees who can be promoted to managers and be role models. Managers want role models and employees who can be public speakers on behalf of the company.  These employees understand how to interpret the appropriate dress for the interview code.

Most companies have a dress code

It might be a loose dress code, and it might be unwritten, but they have a code.  If they have a dress code, dress one step better.  (no shirt, no shoes, no job)  We might not like the dress code, but it has been implemented for a reason. Why would a company do that???

Any time you get several people in a group, you will have outliers, folks at the extreme ends of the scale.  The larger the group, the more diversity.  There will always be someone who wants to push the envelope. As soon as one person pushes the envelope, someone else will try to push it further.  If we as people didn’t have this trait, there wouldn’t be improvements in the products and services we produce.  Pushing the envelope is what makes us successful.

There will be folks who “just don’t have a sense of fashion,” and there will always be folks who want to try to get away with as much as they can.  We all know that stealing isn’t right, but we still need a law for it.  So, if you ask yourself, “Can I wear this?” you probably shouldn’t.  Ask yourself, “What would HRNasty say”?

Good Luck and see you at the after party,
HRNasty

nasty: an unreal maneuver of incredible technique, something that is ridiculously good, tricky, and manipulative but with a result that can’t help but be admired, a phrase used to describe someone good at something. “He has a nasty forkball”.

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