Interview attire question (the other side)

[Becca]

My firm is fairly casual. I only wear a suit to work if I am meeting with others who I know will have suits on. Otherwise it is business casual - and a pretty loose business casual at that.

I have a couple interviews tomorrow (I am interviewer) and am feeling like I should dress up a bit. Do I need to? Normally I think I would, but I have already worn both my maternity suits this week and need to spot clean one in order to wear tomorrow. And, well, I am lazy.

As an interviewee, do you care what your interviewer wears?

I might DD just cause I am overly paranoid about work stuff on-line and don't like to leave work stuff 'out there'

[Deleted]

I never dress differently from the way I dress every day when I am an interviewer.

[dexteroni]

Oct 16, 2012 21:45:05 GMT -5 Becca said:

As an interviewee, do you care what your interviewer wears?

I want them to wear what they would normally wear to work. It gives me a sense of the standard dress in their office and lends a bit of insight into the working environment. And a more casually dressed interviewer puts me at ease.

[Deleted]

I try to dress a little nicer when I interview. I usually wear a jacket and slacks. I don't stress to much if I do a last minute interview or otherwise am not able to dress up.

I don't think I have cared much as an interviewee. It would be weird if I were wearing a suit and the interviewer were wearing. t-shirt and jeans.

[gt7301b]

Lol, I've worn jeans when conducting an interview.

[aurora]

I usually dress a little more professionally when I am the interviewer so that the interviewee (who is always in a full suit) doesn't feel so overdressed. My standard when we have candidates visiting is slacks or skirt and a button-up shirt.

However, I do think the rules are different when you are pregnant - nobody expects a pregnant woman to buy a full suite of casual through formal attire, so if you're not wearing what you would normally I don't think it's a big deal.

[Deleted]

Oct 16, 2012 21:52:57 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

It would be weird if I were wearing a suit and the interviewer were wearing. t-shirt and jeans.

I disagree.

If you typically wear a t-shirt and jeans to work, there's no reason not to do so while interviewing a candidate.

[ESF]

My firm is weird, but when I have interviewed people, I wear jeans and a nice shirt. The partners at my firm wear jeans. Sometimes they iron their shirts or shave for the occasion, and sometimes they don't. They do provide advance warning of the casual nature though.

ETA - I have also been interviewed by people that are wearing jeans. At at least three different firms. I have never thought it was weird or felt uncomfortable

[ellipses84]

My work is very Business Casual and there are a lot of employees who wear jeans M-F, because they spend a lot of time in the field. I try to dress nice when interviewing, about a step below a suit. I find if you don't, your new employee may think it's acceptable to dress that way, or slightly worse, every day. This advice is brought to you by experience with several co-workers who interviewed with a group on Casual Friday

[h]

I am with miso on this. I am generally in fairly professional attire at work, but if I happen to be interviewing someone on a jeans day, I wear jeans. I see no reason to modify my dress when I already have a job.

[justjen]

I just wear whatever I usually wear.

[Becca]

Thanks guys! I'll stick with dress pants and a nice shirt, but skip the jacket (which is what I don't want to clean).

'Setting a precedent' is what I am worried about - don't want to go too casual

Once as a 2nd year junior, I told a new hire (who was more senior than me) that I really liked summers at the firm, because if there wasn't billable work to be done, we could somewhat come and go at our leisure and it wasn't held against us/didn't affect other time off, etc. (basically, there is a 'take time off when you can get it' attitude, so if it is 80* and sunny, and you stroll in at 9:00 to check-in, respond to e-mails, etc, and then go to lunch and never come back - it is a-ok. But not making sure there is no work? Not ok.)

Well, at one point she didn't showup to work for several days in a row - no out of office, didn't tell anyone she wasn't coming in, ignored client calls, etc. When she was called out on it, she cited that previous conversation with me and claimed that I had given her permission to only come to work when she wanted to. I am super careful how I word andpresent things now.

[emyinpink]

Oct 16, 2012 21:46:16 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

I never dress differently from the way I dress every day when I am an interviewer.

:Y: