{"id":9698,"date":"2012-06-28T18:12:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T01:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/static\/blog\/?p=9698"},"modified":"2017-10-17T10:11:09","modified_gmt":"2017-10-17T17:11:09","slug":"whats-that-candidate-wearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/whats-that-candidate-wearing\/","title":{"rendered":"“What’s that Candidate Wearing?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

So often, job seekers ask me, \u201cWhat should I wear?\u201d Before you roll your eyes and click away, I\u2019m asking you to give a minute to the relationship between attire and interviewing. You might respond to What should I wear?<\/em> with \u201cUse common sense,\u201d or \u201cJust exercise good judgment -THE END.” But that\u2019s just it, your common sense and your good judgment in the interview room<\/a>\u00a0are someone else\u2019s skin tight club dress with 6\u201d heels or dirty jeans with Chuck Taylors and Grateful Dead tee. Sound ridiculous but it does happen.
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\nIt\u2019s a delicate balance of common sense, generational alignment, personal tastes, internal and external fashion designs and individuality. What clothes match the job responsibility and the company culture?<\/p>\n

We are conditioned to make judgments; we evaluate potential mates based on size, shape, color, automobiles, jewelry, shoes and sadly sometimes, by things even more trivial.\u00a0 So it\u2019s “natural” to judge a potential job candidate by their clothing.\u00a0 It would be nice to say that clothes don\u2019t matter but they do<\/em>. It\u2019s a fine line between fashion, professionalism, generational differences and personal judgments.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a sneaker guy; I love CLEAN (really clean) sneaks. But some folks hate them, think they are for kids and men should wear hard bottoms\u2026See what I did just there I just made a generalization, judgment and emasculation all at once. It\u2019s easy and we do it all the time.<\/p>\n

Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> had a meeting with Wall Street executives which made front page news because he wore an old hoodie instead of a business suit. The suits of Wall-Street versus the Hoodies of tech nerds. But Zuckerberg is one of the youngest, richest and most importantly, SMARTEST people in the world. If he was available and if you could afford him, you\u2019d hire him in a heartbeat, regardless of his clothes. On the other end of the spectrum, check out what Will Ferrell wears to a janitor job interview in the movie, Step Brothers<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/center>[EDITOR’S NOTE: It is the Fart and not the tuxedo which causes him not to get the job.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Being from Gen-X, I was taught you always put your best foot forward and that meant you wore the fanciest duds in the closet. That\u2019s a traditional approach.<\/em> Surely you\u2019ve been advised to dress for the job you want and not the job you have. Well what happens when the boss has no sense of style or fashion? I\u2019ve had some bosses that wore action slacks, dickey shirts and penny loafers (with nickels in them). Sorry folks you won\u2019t catch me dead in that tattered mess. And that shouldn’t mean we can’t work together.<\/p>\n

So what do we do here? How should the modern day job seeker dress? Should the interviewer<\/a> judge a candidate by their physical appearance, more specifically their clothing?<\/p>\n

Suppose a middle aged candidate shows up to a job interview<\/a> for Information Technology position, dressed in a nicely tailored suit and wingtips, only to discover his interviewer is a 20 something Millennial dressed in dark jeans, white shirt with a vest and a neck tie that is hanging loosely around his neck.\u00a0 There\u2019s probably going to be judgments being made.<\/p>\n

My POV is that it\u2019s all about boundaries and borders. What is out of bounds and what is acceptable?\u00a0Let\u2019s look at the business suit, classic American business suit; you know it when you see it. But what if we take that suit, lose the tie, open the collar and push up the sleeves?\u00a0 There are literally hundreds of combinations you can make but this is not about style as it is about judgments we make based on what we have been taught and experienced.\u00a0 And I\u2019m here to tell you that you could be losing out on some major talent by judging and not discovering the best candidate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, here\u2019s my advice to both the interviewer and interviewee. First the interviewee:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. \n
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    1. Do your research. Google the company. Look for the about us page, look for community photos. Do a cross search, look on LinkedIn<\/a> and even Twitter<\/a>. See what kind of image the company has and if they have no social identity then odds are they are a little more conservative.<\/li>\n
    2. Mix it up. Look, not everyone thinks like you or like me, we\u2019re all different but there are certain things that are constant, like dressing nicely.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never heard of someone NOT getting a job because they wore a suit.\u00a0This is the 21st<\/sup> there are different cuts and styles of suits that are more modern and trendy\u2026get one.<\/li>\n
    3. Expect the unexpected. You may be interviewed by a guy that looks like Donald Trump or a lady that looks like Michelle Obama, either way don\u2019t be alarmed by sex, shape, size, color or outfit. Far as you know that person\u2019s the boss and most important person in your life at that moment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

      And for the interviewer:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
        \n
      1. \n
          \n
        1. Walk a mile in their shoes. Think about how nervous they might be. Think about how they don\u2019t know what to expect. They are nervous, so cut them a break and try to focus on skills and education. How would this candidate perform?<\/li>\n
        2. Don\u2019t trip. By this, I mean power trip. Don\u2019t use the interview setting<\/a> as an opportunity to assert your limited amount of power or make assessments based on ill relevant factors, like suit color, skin color, type of shoe, or brand name.<\/li>\n
        3. When scheduling the interview, communicate clearly the organizational environment. Let the candidate know if you are conservative, business causal or simply casual workplace.<\/li>\n
        4. Interview the person not the clothes.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n

          Problem solved.<\/p>\n

          Chris Fields\u00a0is an HR professional and leadership guy who blogs and dispenses great (not just good) advice at\u00a0Cost of Work. Connect with Chris via email at\u00a0<\/a>chris@costofwork.com<\/a>.
          \n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"So often, job seekers ask me, \u201cWhat should I wear?\u201d Before you roll your eyes and click away, I\u2019m asking you to give a minute to the relationship between attire and interviewing. You might respond to What should I wear? with \u201cUse common sense,\u201d or \u201cJust exercise good judgment -THE END.” But that\u2019s just it, […]","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":32560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"categories":[840,838,637,841],"tags":[87,84,88],"series":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/blog_bulb.png","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Podcast-icon.jpg","download_link":false,"player_link":false,"audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/hiring-success-podcast\/id1472174987","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.google.com\/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9oaXJpbmdzdWNjZXNzcG9kY2FzdC5jYXN0b3MuY29tL2hpcmluZy1zdWNjZXNzLXBvZGNhc3Q","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"soundcloud":{"key":"soundcloud","url":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/smartrecruiters\/sets\/hiring-success-podcast-1","label":"SoundCloud","class":"soundcloud","icon":"soundcloud.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3bM8YzLjM2G9qJXLBBySaB","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/www.smartrecruiters.com\/blog\/feed\/podcast","embedCode":"

          “What’s that Candidate Wearing?”<\/a><\/blockquote>