I am working under the assumption that this person already is pretty educated and able to get a job to begin with.

I am giving the window-dressing pointers that they don't teach in school. Any thoughts about academic progression and the market value of the degree should have been worked in the course of study in school. These are just pointers that close the deal.

If all it took were having a nice outfit, I wouldn't have gone to school. You're not going to get a job because of what you're wearing, but can NOT get a job because of what you're wearing.
If you got a 4.0 in engineering and go into the interview wearing sweatpants and socks you probably won't get hired, and there are a lot of pretentious engineers who think that dressing like a complete sloppy noncomformist douche is waving the flag of superiority.

Because this person did campaign work, I base this advice on his entering the world of making impressions and moving people. If he were going to work in Silicon Valley, I would tell him to go get a technical degree.

4/17/2011 1:24:40 PM

I moved from Fairbanks AK to Boston MA for a job and my fiancee followed me 3 months later. She had a tough time finding a job. She used the down time to invest in herself. Built a professional personal website, watched a ton of online sessions for things related to her career field. I was really impressed by her ability to stay focused and really grow herself when she could of just facebooked and ate chips all day. After about 3.5 months she got her first interview and nailed it. She got a job in Boston with Zero network connections. It can be done.

4/17/2011 2:09:28 PM

the stuff about the suits might be important in some industries, but engineering is not one of them. in an office where guys who will typically be wearing golf shirts, no one is going to criticize you because you wore the wrong type of suit. everyone knows the importance of dressing nicely for an interview but spending $3k on suits to work in an industry of slacks and golf shirts is silly.

4/17/2011 2:47:28 PM

Quote :

" as a Campaign Manager then as a consultant with a consulting firm. As campaigns end, so do the jobs. Have been unable to find a job without a 6 month timeline and everything I apply to wants 3+ years exp. /rant"

You all should really read the thread. This guy is talking about having been a campaign manager and related fields, so dressing appropriately is really huge for the industry. Being someone's face and doing PR are pretty major concerning meticulous attention to detail in all regards of your public image, including clothes.

4/17/2011 4:11:08 PM

i worked in a campaign in college, most of the senior people i met were wearing un-tailored ugly jos a banks style suits. i think he's good.

4/17/2011 4:14:33 PM

They were on the low end of it, which is mostly why they were dealing with you - the college kid.

If you want to be higher up, it's positively correlated with the total picture of what you bring to the table. Ever wonder why all the girls on the campaign staff are always ridiculously hot? I've been to a many congressional office on the Hill and it's ridiculous walking through Rayburn.

4/17/2011 4:19:40 PM

i was actually talking about the people in senator kerry's party

[Edited on April 17, 2011 at 4:25 PM. Reason : lots of ugly suits]

4/17/2011 4:25:18 PM

Well, it's all relative. They could have been amazing suits, and you just have poor taste, but I think the point has been made that you have to use a suit as your baseline and building a wardrobe is essential to be taken seriously in that field.

4/17/2011 4:29:18 PM

In my last two interviews with VPs of a Fortune 100 Company, the VPs showed up wearing jeans and graphic tees. A lot of companies are moving out of the old school, good ol' boy dress code. I suppose it depends on the department and progressiveness of the company.

4/17/2011 5:10:12 PM

Depends on on the industry and firm.

My recent interviewers have been... by a CFO in a probably made to order charcoal pinstripe suit, a CEO in heavy tweeds, and a CFO in wool trousers and button up.

4/17/2011 11:33:55 PM

Really though. Spend 3k on a suit. Guaranteed to get you hired!

4/19/2011 3:46:57 AM

Best investment you can make as a new grad.

4/19/2011 11:29:14 PM

i don't think i would have actually been hired anywhere I've worked if i showed up in a suit. Something like that is going to be completely dependent on type of job and group interviewing with.

4/20/2011 11:45:47 AM

Yeah, my first tech support job my interviewer was wearing a t-shirt with holes in it.

4/20/2011 11:56:06 AM

we interview people while wearing tshirts and the like, but i'd still be surprised if the person i was talking to showed up in something that wasn't a dress shirt and slacks at least.

4/20/2011 12:43:45 PM

Yeah I had slacks and a tie. Definitely not a 3000 dollar suit though.

4/20/2011 12:57:21 PM

Getting a nice suit is probably not bad advice for most jobs.

However, like many people have stated I rarely wear my suit to job interviews anymore. Once I started realizing that just about every person I have ever worked with in computer science dressed like a slob to their interview because they do not give 2 shits about their looks and never bought a suit for church because the field is 80% atheist I dressed down to fit in.

I'll never forget one of the first interviews I went to out of school. All the old ladies in the office were smiling at me and I was feeling all confident in my new suit. Then I bombed the written test they gave me right in the middle of the interview and walked out in shame. I laid in bed in the fetal position for the rest of the day. Nothing is worse than going to an interview and knowing they laughed at your ass when you walked out the door and not because of how you were dressed.

4/20/2011 1:27:38 PM

Quote :

"Once I started realizing that just about every person I have ever worked with in computer science dressed like a slob to their interview because they do not give 2 shits about their looks and never bought a suit for church because the field is 80% atheist I dressed down to fit in."

Why not wear a suit (even a cheap one) to stand out?

Quote :

"I'll never forget one of the first interviews I went to out of school. All the old ladies in the office were smiling at me and I was feeling all confident in my new suit. "

Yet anther reason to wear a suit to an interview. It increases confidence in oneself.

4/20/2011 5:53:46 PM

Quote :

"Why not wear a suit (even a cheap one) to stand out?"

Maybe its just an industry difference, but give the collaborative nature of most tech/engineering fields, but i find that they general look for people that will be comfortable/relaxed/happy in the environment they have going which tends to be from my experience, the tee-shirt/Hawaiian shirt crowd. Heck one of the jobs i had i was told by a friend that work there before the interview that if i should up in anything more dressy then a polo and khaki cargos it would be a negative.

The important thing is to dress for the job you are after at the place you are trying to work, which is moving more and more towards casual attire in a majority of fields

4/20/2011 7:21:49 PM

Everyone should have a suit.

You should always dress nice and have good grooming/hygene on the day of the interview(if you don't they will remember).

Dressing up shows you are serious about the interview for the job.

What you wear once you actually get the job should fit the enviroment of that job.

4/20/2011 11:39:30 PM

Thread completely hijacked by one metrosexual

4/21/2011 12:07:46 AM

Quote :

"Heck one of the jobs i had i was told by a friend that work there before the interview that if i should up in anything more dressy then a polo and khaki cargos it would be a negative. "

If you are wanting a professional job, you should dress like a professional.

Your friend is wrong.

If you wore khaki cargos to interview with me, it would be a short interview and you wouldn't have a shot. If you even wore khakis, same thing.

Edit: And I, too, am an engineer

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 12:15 AM. Reason : ]

4/21/2011 12:14:56 AM

I don't think wearing a suit would hurt in most situations but like i said it makes you feel like a fucking moron at a technical interview when you don't know anything and look like you expect them to hand you the job just because you have a suit on. That had to be what they were thinking. Maybe I am insecure about it because I have never seen anyone come in for a job in my field dressed as nice as I used to.

Thankfully my dreadful experience showed me what questions to expect during a technical interview.

Too much talking about what to wear. Find common interview questions and practice how to answer them. Read more books and internet articles about your field. Utilize staffing agencies. Ask your friends if they know any open jobs even if it is embarrassing that you don't have a job. Always prepare days before an interview and so on ..

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 12:35 AM. Reason : .]

4/21/2011 12:31:33 AM

The #1 question my company asks when interviewing is "Tell me what you know about our company"

Sounds like a no brainer, but you'd be surprised how many people come in not knowing much of ANYTHING other than generics about what the company does. If people can't come off seeming like they know SOMETHING about what the company does, history, etc. then they're scratched from the list immediately.

Even if you don't get this particular question, it's a good idea to know a lot about the company so that you can ask a lot of questions about projects, what they do, etc. When I was interviewing straight out of school, I remember potential employers were impressed when I asked for clarification about projects, day-to-day activities, as it relates to what I could find out in my research on the company.

It comes off as "I'm really interested in your company" and "I'd like to know a little more details about this big project you folks are working on" as opposed to "Please hire me, I have student loans to pay and I need a job"

This idea is a lot easier for larger companies/corporations, but I would find out as much as I could about what they do, history, current and past projects, etc and ask a ton of questions about it. It shows you're really interested in what they do and spent your time learning about the company

[Edited on April 21, 2011 at 12:43 AM. Reason : ]

4/21/2011 12:41:29 AM

yup, they do. I just got my first jERb

4/21/2011 12:43:07 AM

^^^^ the point i am trying to make is this is something that's 100% dependant on the job you are interviewing for. On one side you are discussing that the interviewee should know what the company does/about the job they are applying for and part of this should be knowing about the culture of the place you are applying. A suit, even in a professional job, is not always the right way to go, even a tie might be off.

4/21/2011 10:50:59 AM

Yep, the important thing is to be familiar enough with the corporate culture to know whether you should show up in a suit.

It's rare that showing up in a suit will actually hurt you, but unless you're interviewing for a company or sector that's still mired in 1950s superficiality, your $99 S&K suit is not going to eliminate you from contention.

4/21/2011 11:01:56 AM

Quote :

"Maybe its just an industry difference, but give the collaborative nature of most tech/engineering fields, but i find that they general look for people that will be comfortable/relaxed/happy in the environment they have going which tends to be from my experience, the tee-shirt/Hawaiian shirt crowd. Heck one of the jobs i had i was told by a friend that work there before the interview that if i should up in anything more dressy then a polo and khaki cargos it would be a negative. "

I'm in the tech/engineering industry and although I'm wearing shorts and sneakers at the moment I still wear suits when I interview and I see people who come in to interview wear suits or at a bare minimum khakis and a button down. If you won't change up from your cargos shorts routine for one interview then I think that reflects pretty poorly on you and to go so far as to say it would be a negative to dress nicely for an interview is just plain "wrong" as PackBacker stated.

4/21/2011 12:05:24 PM

I'm on the suits team on this one. The people that work where I work dress sometimes like they are coming here for a sleepover. That's the corporate culture though, you get to be comfortable.

That said, there is an SOP for interviewing and showing respect for the job, the interviewers, and the process dictates that you should dress up. You can fit in with the dress of the culture once you're a member, until then you should go out of your way to look as professional, clean, and capable as they come.

4/21/2011 4:13:35 PM

same here. Being in Engineering & Construction, the acceptable dress varies a lot (even within business lines and projects). However, whenever someone is interviewing they are always wearing a suit and it would seem weird to me if they weren't. Even for internal company job interviews they encourage at least a sport coat if not a suit even though it is not our everyday attire.

4/21/2011 5:31:21 PM