Interview Attire!!

ksankar1982 · Post by **ksankar1982** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:06 pm

Guys,

After a long struggle, I am going for an interview in the coming week. Now am confused with what to wear. I am very much new to UK. so bit confused.

Is a suit a must??.. else a nice white / sky blue shirt with a tie, trouser and a fine formal shoe is enuf ??.. please help out.

meats · Post by **meats** » Wed Oct 21, 2009 8:14 pm

ksankar1982 wrote:Guys,

After a long struggle, I am going for an interview in the coming week. Now am confused with what to wear. I am very much new to UK. so bit confused.

Is a suit a must??.. else a nice white / sky blue shirt with a tie, trouser and a fine formal shoe is enuf ??.. please help out.

A suit is best.

kenfrapin · Post by **kenfrapin** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 11:06 am

Your attire depends on the interviewer and also at which point in the process you are. Let me detail a little to help you out

Initial rounds
1. Formals and Smart casuals are surely OK
2. Do not wear a suit if you are going on a Friday.
3. All they look for is a smart person and a person can look smarter and 'cool' in good formals than a suit - A suit makes you look overdressed for the first round
4. It helps if you know who the interviewers are - If they are techies for the initial round, a suit is a big no no - you will stand out like a sore thumb

Second / Final Rounds
1. Again, you need to know who you are being interviewed by. If this is the second round of technical interviews but with senior level executives, then a suit wont be bad. Even a smart jacket, formal shirt over decent jeans will be super. Dont wear a tie on its own - never!
2. Again, no suits on Fridays - if you are being interviewed by a manager, they will be dressed smart casual only. The idea is always to blend in with your surroundings and give an easy going smart personality
3. If this is the final round after an initial 2 or 3 rounds and you are meeting directors then a suit will be good. Again, a smart casual look is always better than a traditional church look of Black suit and red tie

4. If its the final round with the HR dept, then a suit is not adviced - smart casuals is the best

Just to put you at ease -
Interviewers always look at your clothes to assess your personality. Its easy to be overdressed and underdressed so its best to take the safe option which is smart casuals. Being dressed in casuals overall gives an impression of cockiness or not being serious about the job role while dressing in a suit or a plain formals with a tie alone though not bad, will usualy never give a great impression.
Smart casuals - jeans with a formal shirt, casual trousers with a good fit formal shirt, a jacket along are all good options. No sports shoes or sports jackets please!!!!

All the best buddy, I am sure you wil rock them all
Cheers
KP

meats · Post by **meats** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:14 pm

kenfrapin wrote:
Initial rounds
1. Formals and Smart casuals are surely OK
2. Do not wear a suit if you are going on a Friday.

Not all companies dress down on a Friday so if you go in casual on a Friday and the company don't dress down every Friday then you can kiss goodbye to the job or a further interview with them.

kenfrapin wrote:3. All they look for is a smart person and a person can look smarter and 'cool' in good formals than a suit - A suit makes you look overdressed for the first round

Absolute rubbish.

kenfrapin wrote:4. It helps if you know who the interviewers are - If they are techies for the initial round, a suit is a big no no - you will stand out like a sore thumb

It doesn't matter if you stand out as a sore thumb in a suit, rather be overdressed than under-dressed. You can always take the tie and jacket off, you can't put it on if you rock up dressed as though you're going out for a night on the town. Whilst some jobs don't require a suit, such as emptying the bins etc, it's best to be over-dressed than under.

kenfrapin wrote:Second / Final Rounds
2. Again, no suits on Fridays - if you are being interviewed by a manager, they will be dressed smart casual only. The idea is always to blend in with your surroundings and give an easy going smart personality

Again, not all companies dress down on a Friday. My last company only dressed down on the last Friday of the month. If i had interviewed someone on a Friday who rocked up in casual attire because if was a Friday then i don't think they would've got through to the next round as the first impression isn't good.

kenfrapin wrote:3. If this is the final round after an initial 2 or 3 rounds and you are meeting directors then a suit will be good. Again, a smart casual look is always better than a traditional church look of Black suit and red tie
kenfrapin wrote: get you very far unless you don't want the job.

kenfrapin wrote:Smart casuals - jeans with a formal shirt, casual trousers with a good fit formal shirt, a jacket along are all good options. No sports shoes or sports jackets please!!!!

Jeans at an interview?!? Maybe in some fields but in the majority it's a big no no. If you want to go 'casual' then wear the suit without the tie.

kenfrapin · Post by **kenfrapin** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:27 pm

Ha ha, good retort meats all I comply with all you say.

I guess I did not come across clear when I meant Casual wear - It is not the regular casual dress down on a Friday but more Smart casuals which definitely looks good and the right way.

Dressing down on Fridays - again, safe to say if they the company doesnt dress casual, the candidate dressed semi-casual or again, SMART casual will not lose anything.
I too would not bother considering a candidate dressed a like rock star on Friday.
And how can you rubbish to looking cool in formals

A guy can look really cool in decent trendy formals, and nothing ever beats that!

Traditionally, I agree that a suit is good, but coming from an Asian country and for a guy who has come here for the first time, I fear the Corporate English understanding of a suit MAY not be very clear. I do know how my friends used to dress in 'suits' for interviews and I have never seen it here.

I have tried to make it a GENERIC dress code irrespective of the company. Meats, you are talking from a specific view point and personal experience which may not be accepted as well and wont be too helpful. Keeping it very general, you cannot gurantee a suit from Round 1 to Round 3 is the ONLY option

Finally, I presumed that the interview is within the IT software world and hence, keeping it industry specific, generally companies allow smart casuals on Friday. My previous 3 companies, all major IT Telcos, allowed smart casuals every day of the week!

I hope this discussion does not confuse poor KSankar, sorry if it does.
If you are being interviewed for a role as a Manager, Director and CEO none of the above is correct and only dress in a suit

Cheers
KP

meats · Post by **meats** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:32 pm

As i said, not all companies dress down on Fridays and still wear the same attire that they wear on say a Monday. Turn up casually, whether smart or not, won't get you very far.

The world of IT is a weird one, if you're going for a developer role then dressing down a bit might be ok, but if you're going for an office based role then suit and tie all the way. If you're going for Finance then your advice wouldn't get a candidate anywhere at all unless the company said to you beforehand that it's smart-casual attire and coming dressed like thats to the interview is fine.

kenfrapin · Post by **kenfrapin** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:38 pm

Yup, I can definitely agree to that - but do read my note clearly, it was meant for an IT guy and I presumed that what was the role was for. Also, my sense of smart casuals may not be seen in the same light as others, so that's fair enough.

Finance roles, executive desk jobs, top level management and my advice is NOT right

But I stand by the advice for the TYPICAL IT role. I have been in a lot of places and interviewed a lot of candidates, across levels, for my company and so I know.

KSankar - I hope you have got much more than what you initially asked for

Thanks Meats for balancing my one track advice, it is appreciated

Cheers
KP

meats · Post by **meats** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:41 pm

I don't know too much about the IT interviewings but you didn't specify IT role in your initial post. As said in Finance you wouldn't get very far with your advice.

ksankar1982 · Post by **ksankar1982** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:37 pm

Sorry for not mentioning properly. I am looking for a senior developer role in a IT company.

My interview is the CTO of the company and another Director in the company. Its going to be a technical interview only. Its the 2nd and final round of interview.

I check with my consultant regarding this today. he strongly recommends me to be in a suit .... Incidently as discussed its on a friday only

Not sure if i need to stick to the consultant or not??

meats · Post by **meats** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 7:39 pm

If your consultant said go in a suit then go in a suit as they usually know the interviewers as they might've put a few more people forward for interviews with this company.

kenfrapin · Post by **kenfrapin** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 8:49 pm

Yes! If your consultant has said so then definitely go for the suit.
And you are meeting the CTO and Director so a suit is just perfect for the occasion

All the best!!! Let us all know the good news....stay calm, you are gonna rock

KP

ksankar1982 · Post by **ksankar1982** » Fri Oct 23, 2009 6:50 am

kenfrapin wrote:Yes! If your consultant has said so then definitely go for the suit.
And you are meeting the CTO and Director so a suit is just perfect for the occasion

All the best!!! Let us all know the good news....stay calm, you are gonna rock
KP

Thank you very much.. will defenitely reply once i clear the interview..

rinav · Post by **rinav** » Sat Oct 24, 2009 2:13 am

You definately need a wear a suit whether advised or not.

Even if the other staff or interviewer are in casual clothes they still like to see that you have made an effort and are presentable. wear a shirt and tie as well.

make sure everything is ironed and clean...the one thing people always forget to do is clean their shoes prior to an interview!...make sure they are smart shoes. no dirt under the nails and take any facial pearcings out aswell.. dont go overboard with the aftershave either and no chewing gum.

i sound like a freak but i'm in recruitment and these are the things that companies feedback on when they turn candidates down for jobs.

apologies if ive offended anyone

good luck!!!

InUkOnHsmp · Post by **InUkOnHsmp** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 5:20 pm

Hi Sankar,

I am not one to put a long list of Dos and Donts on the forum.

My advice comes from first hand experience. I have always worn a suit at all the rounds of interview and have never experienced any negative effects of doing the same.

My take is if you are good technically you can go dressed as you like, but going well dressed gets you that first good impression when they have not spoken to you yet.

So as Barney from "How I Met Your Mother" would say "Suit it up Bro!!"

Cheers

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