Dress to Impress – Dressing for an interview

By: Together Abroad 22-12-2014

Categories:* Job Interview ,


Dress to Impress – Dressing for an interview. 

With every interview I arrange, the question I am always asked is “what should I wear for the interview”? While there are no hard and fast rules for this I do feel there are a few simple rules that should be adhered to. You should never be over dressed in a casual environment; whereas even worse is being underdressed in a corporate suit culture.

The first thing you should do regardless of the clothes you intend to wear, is to research the company beforehand. This should be a natural thing to do before every interview, but you would be surprised how many people still don’t fully prepare for their first meeting.

When you are on the website you can get a feeling of what the perspective company culture is about. The images they choose, the layout and even the company mission statement will tell you about the environment you are about to enter. Your approach to your interview dress code should reflect this.

If you are going through a professional recruitment agency they should be able to tell you exactly what to wear and assist you in preparing beforehand. If their response is “I don’t know!”, then this should be a red flag that they don’t really understand their client’s culture or their needs; and if they don’t understand the client’s needs you can be guaranteed they don’t understand yours.

When I started out in my career I was always told you could never be too over dressed for an interview and you only get one chance to make a good OR bad first impression. Over the years I have slightly changed my view on these statements. I personally think that being over dressed for an interview in a casual setting can create a very awkward first meeting.
However, I do still strongly believe that you only get one chance to create a positive first impression. It is a fact that in the first 5 minutes of meeting your interviewer they will have already decided if you are the right cultural fit for the company; the practical ability questions will be the remainder of the interview time.

So here are a few simple tips on how to dress for an interview.

Firstly research the company or ask your recruitment consultant what kind of environment you are going to: is it casual, funky, corporate or sporty? Once you have this information it’s much easier to decide on your wardrobe attire.

Absolute no no’s regardless of the company!

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Article written by Rachel Wardle Resourcing and Staffing Project Manager EMEA
Pegasystems Visit Rachels Linkedin Profile