What to Wear for a Job Interview?

You have an impor­tant job inter­view next week, and you stud­ied every­thing about the com­pa­ny that’s going to inter­view you, you thought of the answers to all the pos­si­ble ques­tions they may ask you, you’ve been prac­tic­ing body ges­tures in front of the mir­ror, so you’re almost ready. What’s miss­ing? Your out­fit. You know, when par­tic­i­pat­ing in a job inter­view, what you’re doing basi­cal­ly is try­ing to sell your­self as a prod­uct, and for that rea­son, you need to give the best impres­sion pos­si­ble, and that is achieved most­ly by clothes. The first thing you need to bear in mind is to present your­self with a pro­fes­sion­al image, and this can be as stress­ful as the inter­view itself, but always remem­ber that first impres­sions are gen­er­al­ly the ones that count, espe­cial­ly in a job inter­view, in which they are only going to see you once and then make a deci­sion. This is why it is so impor­tant to wear the right clothes; they can make a big dif­fer­ence when try­ing to get a job. Accord­ing to sta­tis­tics, more than 50% of first impres­sions are marked by your clothes and how you com­bine them and the way in which you enter the room; and more than 60% of man­agers stat­ed that clothes could some­times be a decid­ing fac­tor when choos­ing two sim­i­lar participants. One first clue on how to decide what clothes to wear in your inter­view is doing some research and inves­ti­gate the company’s cul­ture because if you fol­low those char­ac­ter­is­tics, chances are the inter­view­er will feel attract­ed to your profile. So go ahead and surf on the company’s web­site: if there are pic­tures of employ­ees, you can eas­i­ly grab an idea of its pro­file and whether you should go for a smart or a casu­al outfit. Anoth­er action you can take is call­ing the com­pa­ny and ask them about their dress code or direct­ly send the recruiter an email and ask them. Last but not least, nowa­days, com­pa­nies have at least one active social media pro­file, so you can go ahead, take a look at some of the employ­ees’ pro­files and check what type of out­fit they are wear­ing when in the office. Don’t wor­ry about mon­ey because you can always find options that adapt to your bud­get, but always keep in mind that buy­ing some­thing just for the inter­view is not con­ve­nient, so go for some­thing you will be able to wear once you get that job; for exam­ple, if you find a very cheap suit that you’ll only be able to wear a few times, maybe you should think of invest­ing a lit­tle bit more and buy some­thing that can last you at least two years if you wear it once or twice a week. In this guide, you’ll be able to find some tips to look per­fect­ly appro­pri­ate, feel com­fort­able, and ensure your suc­cess in your job interview.

Some General Rules

First­ly, con­sid­er this: no mat­ter what type of job it is, you should make an effort to look tidy and neat. You can always show a bit of per­son­al­i­ty but stay away from very bright colours or noisy patterns. In most com­pa­ny offices, the employ­ees wear a pro­fes­sion­al busi­ness out­fit; how­ev­er, there are some com­pa­nies that pre­fer casu­al attires. Whichev­er the case is, you need to por­tray a proac­tive nature and your will to do well. If you per­ceive the com­pa­ny has a cor­po­rate pro­file, a dress or suit for women and a suit with a tie for men is the answer. If it’s more a Google com­pa­ny-kind-of-style, go for some­thing more casu­al: pants and a t‑shirt.

Interview Outfits For Women

In gen­er­al, keep a dis­tance from bright colours or too many acces­sories. If you wear make­up, go for a soft, nat­ur­al option.

Formal Business Code

Whether you are a woman or a man, this code is seen as stan­dard. When fac­ing this type of code, try to dress a lit­tle bit more for­mal than the stan­dard of the company.

• Skirts: go for skirt suits in dark colours. Make sure it’s knee-length.
• Make sure your tights are neat with no holes on them.
• Instead of choos­ing a loose jack­et, go for a tai­lored one.
• Choose a shirt with a sol­id colour.
• If you pre­fer a trousers option, go for a pair of trousers suit and fol­low the same rules as above.
• Shoes: they should be closed in the toes. Heels? Keep it between 2 to 6 cm.
• Hair: tie it back or choose a neat style.
• Tat­toos or body pierc­ings? Cov­er them all.

Casual Business Code

For a job posi­tion in which the atmos­phere and the dress­ing-up are more relaxed, this dress code may be per­fect. The objec­tive of this one is to look pro­fes­sion­al in a way that it’s not so strict.

• A knee-length skirt is a good, com­fort­able option togeth­er with some slacks.
• Make sure your tights are neat with no holes on them.
• Com­bine the skirt with a but­ton-up shirt.
• Anoth­er good option is a shift dress com­bined with a smart jack­et. Again, make sure the skirt is knee-length.
• Fol­low the same hair­style as in the pre­vi­ous section.
• Cov­er all your body pierc­ings and tattoos.

Casual Code

This code is appro­pri­ate when apply­ing for a job at a café or a shop. Although many of these com­pa­nies have a uni­form, if they don’t, you will be all alone in the clothes field. Bear in mind that as this is casu­al, you shouldn’t get too relaxed when choos­ing your out­fit; remem­ber, you still need to make an excel­lent first impression.

• Tai­lored jeans, smart slacks, and jeans in a dark colour are a good choice.
• A midi skirt or a knee-length skirt.
• A nice t‑shirt or a blouse.
• In this dress-code inter­view, you can choose one or two acces­sories that show your per­son­al­i­ty a bit.
• Fol­low the same hair­style as before
• Cov­er all your body pierc­ings and tattoos.

Worker Code

If the posi­tion you’re apply­ing to is an out­door job, maybe man­u­fac­tur­ing work, then dress­ing up with a suit is not appro­pri­ate, main­ly if the chores include get­ting dirty.

• A pair of jeans free from any holes or patches.
• Com­bine them with a nice shirt or blouse.
• Avoid shirts that have graphics
• Wear a belt; this gives your jeans some personality.
• Fol­low the same instruc­tions for the hair­style as before.
• Choose shoes that don’t have heels.
• Cov­er all your body pierc­ings and tattoos.

Interview Outfits For Men

Formal Business Code

• Wear a two-piece suit in a dark colour.
• Com­bine it with a white or light-coloured shirt.
• Avoid wear­ing bows. Go for a sub­tle tie.
• Wear dark, pol­ished, neat shoes.
• Choose match­ing socks.
• Shave
• Cov­er any tat­toos or body piercings.

Casual Business Code

• Wear trousers or chinos.
• Choose a but­ton-up shirt with a collar.
• Wear dark, pol­ished, neat shoes.
• Choose match­ing socks.
• Avoid jeans and col­lar­less shirts.
• Make sure you shave
• Cov­er any tat­toos or body piercings.

Casual Code

• Regard­less of your out­fit choice, make sure it looks neat.
• Go for chi­nos and dark trousers.
• Choose a but­toned shirt or a col­lared polo.
• Shave
• Cov­er all your body pierc­ings and tattoos.

Worker Code

• Choose your favourite jeans, but make sure they don’t have holes or patches.
• Add a belt.
• Wear a casu­al shirt or a t‑shirt.
• Don’t go in shorts!
• Make sure your shoes are in good condition.
• Cov­er any body pierc­ings or tattoos.

Final Thought!

All in all, these guide­lines will give you every­thing you need to look suc­cess­ful­ly arranged dur­ing your next inter­view. If you fol­low all the tips we gave you, chances are you’ll end up choos­ing the appro­pri­ate out­fit for that impor­tant date. If you are going shop­ping for your next inter­view, con­sid­er­ing pur­chas­ing not only one attire but maybe two or more fol­low­ing the same guide­lines we gave you all through­out this article. Why is this impor­tant? Because, as we all know, inter­views some­times take more than just one meet­ing. If they call you to go back for a sec­ond inter­view, you don’t want to be wear­ing exact­ly the same as in the pre­vi­ous one. Regard­less of your out­fit choic­es, always make sure you feel com­fort­able in those clothes, your per­fume is soft, and your nails and hair are neat and clean. Anoth­er impor­tant fac­tor is the shoes: if they are new, try walk­ing around a bit before wear­ing them to the inter­view: brand new shoes may hurt your feet, espe­cial­ly women’s shoes, and you don’t want to be in an inter­view feel­ing a killing pain on your feet. Make sure you smile, and you let your inter­view­er speak, don’t inter­rupt them. Remem­ber: first impres­sions are the ones that remain intact over time!