Five years ago, when Sherine was graduating from university, on the search for her first job, she had no difficulty deciding what to wear to an interview- a formal suit was always the right answer regardless of where she was going for her interview- large multinational, local company, bank, NGO, you name it. And the same is true of all her male colleagues. Engineers, bankers, sales executives, and marketers alike all wore the classic suit and tie when doing their interview rounds. 

A few years down the road, Sherine was ready to move on from her first job, and start interviewing again. But, this time, things were different. For some reason, people were not in agreement as to the definition of interview attire. Actually, when Sherine made a point of noting how interviewees in the company she worked, she noticed that more often than not, interviewees did not observe the tradition of formality in their dress. Sherine worked for an up and coming IT company, where a suit and tie only saw the light when meeting clients. The daily style of choice is what we currently call smart casual. And that’s how her friends in most of the advertising agencies dressed too. The unifying rule was that as long as you were not meeting clients, you could dress as comfortably as you liked.

After a lot of debate and research, Sherine decided she would dress a step up from the accepted dress code of the company she was interviewing with. Was this was the wisest decision she could have adopted?

Looking at the corporate world today, both locally, regionally and internationally, we see that the agreed upon standard dress code for interview attire has undergone as much evolution as the workplace, adapting itself to suit the type of organization you work for and the kind of work you do. Let’s look at some examples.

People interviewing for positions in a school these days for example, are rarely encouraged to wear a suit and tie. Will they be wearing this to work? No. Then they should choose something that helps them look the part they are applying for. The same goes for field engineers. Since their daily work clothes will never be a suit and tie, maybe it’s not such a good idea to wear them to an interview. But that’s not to say that they should wear jeans either. The best bet would be to wear something in the middle- maybe dress pants and a shirt, and maybe even add a tie. Technical people are also a group that usually has an easy ride when interviewing. This side of the Atlantic, regardless of where they are interviewing, semi-formal is the name if the game. These people rarely interact with people outside the company they work for, and they need to be as comfortable as possible while they program, develop or fix people’s computers. On the other hand, some types of business still subscribe to the old school of formality when it comes to their dress code. In this case, an interviewee should adopt the same style. This will usually be the case in areas like sales, and finance. 

But how do you find out what your would-be colleagues wear to work? And what takes the upper hand- the nature of the work or the company’s style? Research is usually the determining factor in situations like these. Check with your friends, and their friends who may be interviewing there as well, or know people who already work there. If, for example, you are applying for a job in an advertising agency, you may think that it is OK to go to the interview in slightly less than formal manner, because this is the way that people in all advertising agencies dress. But, you will need to take into consideration the specific culture of the company at hand, which may turn things round and require you to wear a suit ad tie. And if worse comes to worst, and you cannot find any leads to help you make this all-important decision, it always a good idea to be safe than sorry- dress formally..

When discussing appropriate attire for an interview, we shouldn’t simply stop at the choice of clothes. Let’s take a closer look at the smaller details of the outfit and image that you should be seeking to project.

• Simplicity is the name of the game- subtle colors and simple styles are the best. Leave your trendy side at home.
• Pressed clothes and clean shoes for both males and females.
• Simple hairstyles, pulled back from the face for females- you don’t want to keep pushing strands of hair out of your eyes!
• Minimal jewelry for females, and no jewelry whatsoever for men.
• Females wearing nail polish should make sure it is not chipped.
• Females wearing a skirt should make sure it is of a reasonable length when sitting down. Simple, tailored trousers may be a safer way out.
• Stay away from sneakers and jeans, no matter how casual the environment you are interviewing is.    

The interview is all about projecting an image of professionalism. You may be the right person for the job, and your resume may be impeccable, but if you don’t mirror that image of polished capability you may lose out on the interview. Employers need some one who can do the part and look the part at the same time- not one or the other.