Interview tomorrow- what to wear?

Polmop

As Shelly says above and good luck with the interview

coin_operated_girl

Well I just tried on the stuff I bought at home and neither of the items are suitable- the jacket is far too long on the sleeves and it looks too big in general. I should have got one with buttons on it so I could do it up so that it gives a more fitted look. The top I got also isn't suitable as it has this weird mesh thing along the neckline, but because I'm smaller than your average adult the mesh sits too low on me and you can see my bra. The only thing I can think of that I have which I could wear is a plain black jumper and a white blouse. I feel like its a bit waitress-like, but its either wear that or not go to the interview. I wish they gave me more than a few days notice about the interview so I could have prepared better.

Opinion

coin_operated_girl wrote: »

Well I just tried on the stuff I bought at home and neither of the items are suitable- the jacket is far too long on the sleeves and it looks too big in general. I should have got one with buttons on it so I could do it up so that it gives a more fitted look. The top I got also isn't suitable as it has this weird mesh thing along the neckline, but because I'm smaller than your average adult the mesh sits too low on me and you can see my bra. The only thing I can think of that I have which I could wear is a plain black jumper and a white blouse. I feel like its a bit waitress-like, but its either wear that or not go to the interview. I wish they gave me more than a few days notice about the interview so I could have prepared better.

It's just one of those things that's a bit out of your control. Just dress as smartly as you can and get on with it.

Good luck!!

applebite

I would say wear something smart but as long as you feel comfortable. Ive had several NHS interviews and none of the interviewers or interviewees ever wore a suit. My NHS interview for a bank support worker role I wore a smart pair of trousers and a nice blouse and for my nursing interviews I wore a dress. Can you nip to a supermarket? Might get something nice there. Good luck

pmd123

As a manager in the NHS, it would have have no relevance to me if someone wore a suit or not, as long as they dressed appropriately. If someone turns up in jeans and a T-shirt they're unlikely to be appointed, however there would be no difference between someone turning up in a smart skirt / blouse from Primark and someone who turns up in a £500 Hugo Boss suit.

Even if both candidates aced the interview I look at who would fit best into the team dynamic (based upon personality) rather than anything else, and I'd be disappointed if any other recruiters would be swayed by an expensive suit.

In short, you could lose out on a post by dressing wholly inappropriately, but as long as you dress smartly you should be fine.

pmd123

Forgot to add, hope the interview goes well!

coin_operated_girl

Thanks for the advice everyone! I ended up wearing that jacket I bought in the end. I kinda folded the ends of the sleeves inwards, so they fitted me better. You couldn't tell that I folded them, so I think I probably looked OK, although the overall fit of the jacket was still a bit too big...the important thing is that I have learnt my lesson (lol) and on my next day off I will go suit shopping so I can take my time and find something that fits me better.

I wasn't the smartest person there, but I would say that I was on par with the vast majority of the other interviewees (there were a lot of people there as there are quite a few vacancies). I was surprised to see some people wearing jeans and a casual top, and I noticed some of them looking around the room uncomfortably.

It was a pretty intense day. First of all, we had to take a literacy and numeracy test, which was harder than I thought it would be (including long multiplication and long division!). After they marked our tests they called some peoples names and asked them to go to the next room and, in true X Factor style, they then announced that everybody in the room had either failed and therefore would not be given the opportunity to attend the interview later that day or that everybody in the room had passed and would progress to the next stage.

I was convinced that I had failed the numeracy part (pass mark was 75% and there were only about 15 questions for the numeracy part so there wasn't much scope for error) because maths is my weakest subject and I haven't studied it in over 10 years...but I somehow passed it (I still think they called me to the wrong group, I couldn't even remember how to do long division). Then I had the interview which I felt went OK, although mine was very short compared to most peoples. I don't know whether I should have expanded upon my answers a lot more than I did or whether other people were rambling on. There was one question which I didn't understand and I asked the person to rephrase it. I still didn't understand what they were getting at so they asked if I wanted to come back to that question later and I said yes. At the end they asked me the question again, which I finally understood (I think my nerves got the better of me, but I had calmed down towards the end), so that probably made me look a bit dim.

Anyways, I'll find out in the week how I got on.