Interview outfit?!

Lioness_Twinkletoes

pupgrum wrote: »

Long as the good looking woman is trainable, who cares? I have seen this a number of times, the skilled candidate is rejected and the better looking candidate is hired, despite lacking the skills. If you're hiring a surgeon then yes, the skillset matters the most, but for most jobs, not so much. Why hire someone so skilled they can be a threat to your own job in the future when you can hire someone whose appearance is attractive, and looks good to have walking about when a client walks into the office?

I don't think anyone should ever wear a bin bag. You don't need to hide, but it's true you lose out to attractive women.

You do realise I was mocking you, don't you?

cavework

pupgrum....you really have a weird way of looking at employment. I honestly do not like your references regarding female employees....it is offensive or uneducated ..you choose
Why on earth do you imagine in this day and age that the length of a skirt or the attractiveness of a woman employee should be taken into consideration? You TBH are still living in the 70's and I suspect you still have the mullet hair style...

trailingspouse

Fireflyaway - I agree with previous posters that suits are no longer necessary, just look smart and professional.

Pupgrum - you're neither terribly smart, nor terribly professional, are you? I don't employ people who can't cope in a modern workplace, so I hope you won't be applying to work for me any time soon. This attitude really isn't appropriate any more. It might have been funny once, but that was a while ago now. I suspect you are either an older man who hasn't noticed how times have changed, or you're quite young and naive, and you're repeating stuff you've heard other people say in the past.

Voyager2002

FWIW I have often conducted interviews in a charity context.

The panel always included senior management of the charity, who are female, so the comments about looking 'hot' are certainly wrong in my experience.

I remember one unsuccessful candidate who wore a suit, and our feedback to her (the polite version) was that we felt that she would be a poor fit for our organisational culture. While I remember quite a lot of the things that the successful candidates said I cannot remember at all what they were wearing.

[Deleted User]

Fireflyaway wrote: »

its for a project coordinator for a charity.

As the weather allows around this time I would wear a suit, unless I already saw or know people already working there.

What's that saying you dress to the position.

It's a hard one, my last interview was for a charity office and I was kind of glad I went smart definately as the position arose simply due to retirement and so the interviewers/co workers were of the more mature years so it was a little old fashioned. Though it did bucket down on me on the day because I was more worried of the do I carry my coat around with me! I definately got the wrong time! :)

Good luck :)

xapprenticex

I think being a 'hot' female can be an advantage or disadvantage, you could be interviewed by a guy who finds you very attractive and hires you over others (assuming you are qualified to do the role) or you can be interviewed by a woman who is the current 'hot' one who sees you as a threat OR they may not consider your looks at all. But it does happen, not that its the right thing to do or anything.

Fireflyaway

Thanks everyone. My aim is to look smart and definitely not ' sexy' , ' hot' or anything similar! This is a project coordinator job, not a position at hooters.
If I was to get overlooked in favour of someone more physically attractive so be it. I want to be hired for my skills, not because the interviewer fancies me.

bouicca21

Smart, clean and tidy. Simples.

I'd never expect a woman to wear a suit. Personally I wouldn't expect a man to either, but I know that a lot of male candidates feel more confident in a suit.

Savvy_Sue

I've never worn a suit. It is tbh a long time since I had an interview, but I think my experience still holds good - and I now work for a charity.

We were interviewing for someone to replace me in my previous job. I noticed that I was wearing a black jacket, my two colleagues interviewing with me were wearing black jackets, and each of the three candidates wore a black jacket, all with dark skirts or trousers. I vowed never to wear a black jacket to an interview!

I had a cornflour blue jacket, a bright pink jacket, and yes, a black jacket. If I wore the blue or pink jacket, I wore black trousers. If I wore the black jacket, I wore blue trousers. I cannot remember which I was wearing when I got my current job.

In part this desire to stand out stemmed from that previous job: as part of it I had to organise dance auditions, and we requested candidates NOT to wear black leotards and tights but to choose something distinctive. We didn't want to number them, but we had to distinguish them.

So I'd say you want to stand out from other candidates, but obviously in a good way. There's no harm in dressing above the smartness you'd expect to wear in this new role (definitely do so if you expect to wear jeans and trainers!) but I'd say comfort and practicality trump suits every time. Not that a suit can't be practical! And that's where a jacket can be good - you want a tissue handy, maybe a pen etc. But it doesn't have to be a suit.

When I'm representing the charity I work for, I tend to 'dress up'. As it happens, I have a dark jacket in one of our logo colours, which I team with a pale shirt in one of our other colours. Usually smart trousers because I hate skirts ...

I'd say charities tend to be more 'traditional' in their outlook but it does depend on the charity and how long it's been running, and who's involved in interviewing you.

I'm thinking what my colleagues / our trustees wear when they are interviewing people, and I don't think suits feature very highly!

74jax

I would wear the office wear you would be comfortable in doing the job on a daily basis.