Dress for interview, or dress for work?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a temporary position, but it is full time, in an inpatient unit. My duties include morning care, cleaning up and bathing patients. In the course of the morning, I could get wet, dirty, peed on or worse. Most of the nurses on my floor wear uniforms, although some wear steet clothes, or comfy pants and tshirts. I always wear uniforms. Always.

I applied for a job I really want in outpatients. There the nurses get to wear clean street clothes, look nice and so forth.

So, I got the interview. It is in my building, on the lower floor at 11 am, on Thursday. I work Thursday, and there was no question of getting the day changed to Friday when I don’t work. My big question is, do I dress for the interview, work in my good clothes, risk getting poo all over me (Normally I dont get poo all over me, but Murphy’s law being what it is…) and have everyone wonder why I look so fancy… (trust me these biddies would notice and wonder) or go to my interview in my nicest uniform? Take a change of clothes with me and hope I can discreetly change… on my “lunch hour”?(Because if I dont get this job I dont want anyone to know I applied… my boss will know but thats all I hope…people here are vicious)

Also I have no idea right now what patient load I may have on Thursday. I could have all walking talking clean happy people, or I could have the guy back from hernia/bowel surgery with an amputated toe as well.
[Princess Leia] Please help me SDMB, you’re my only hope [/Princess Leia]

2

Could you wear a smock over the interview clothes. My sister is an Endo Nurse and she always wears a smock when with patients.

Jim

3

If you can, I’ve always been told to dress for the job you are applying for.

However, if you can’t discretely change for the interview, I’d just suggest you let the person you’re interviewing with KNOW your circumstances. Hey, if they can’t accept that, maybe it’s not the spot for you.

If they know you’ve just come off the floor, then they already should realize that you’re come off a serious work detail and allow for that.

I’d normally say to heck with your coworkers, but as you’ve indicated, they can be sorta “snarky” and from my daughter’s experience in hospital settings, you should not care but that’s probably not really practical as these kinds of a-holes can make life pretty miserable for you. So I do undertand that.

Just do the best you can do, and if it’s not perfection, let them know where you just came from and what you were doing.

4

Can you not bring a change of interview clothes to work? I don’t know if you have time during your shift, but if you can pop in the bathroom for 15 minutes to change and get cleaned up before your interview it will make a better impression.

I dress business casual at work, but when I interviewed for another position I went the whole nine yards, silk dress, hose, heels. I didn’t get the position, but the scuttlebutt I heard was that the interviewer was VERY impressed.

5

Thanksfor your advice. Im figuring on changing at work, maybe wearing the basics and changing tops or something. Actually Im hoping if Im dressed up the charge nurse might make me float or something not to poop-likely. Or I might get the poop simply because Im dressed nice. You never ever know.

I’m being interviewed by a man, if that makes any difference. I know that men and women interview differently and look for different things, Im mostly used to women interviews, so this puts a new spin on what to expect.

Im really excited, I want this job, it has human hours. I like my week off every four weeks, but being an absentee mommy for 14 out of 21 days otherwise doesnt work for me or “Little Salty”. He’s two, has medical problems, and Im separated from his dad, with no support, visits or anything in 18 months. Working an 8-4 job 5 days a week would mean I can actually have breakfast and supper with my son, every day. Plus not wiping bums… priceless!

6

my suggestion would be to wear something slightly nicer to work than usual (tell your co workers you need to do laundry). Pack a nicer outfit that coordinates with the first one. Then if you have plenty of time to change you are good. Less time or have something nasty on one peice or the other, you can make a quick change and if worse comes to worst no time at all. You still are wearing something nice. I will also say I would risk being a few minutes late than interviewing wearing stained or odorous clothes. If necessary, aplogise profusely and explain you were coming from work and didn’t want to be offensive.

7

Appearances matter.
You want to feel as professional and polished as you can at an interview, that means dressing the part. You’ll feel more calm and confident if you don’t have to worry about your appearance.

Bring a change, or a clean uniform or whatever you feel makes you look your best. Wear make-up if you normally don’t (just mascara, lipstick or a clear balm and some concealer, nothing OTT) and bring a hairbrush and a nice clip so you can keep your hair tidy and out of the way. Dress up, go a little smarter than the clothes you’d wear if you actually got the job.

They already know you’re a hard working professional, they don’t ned to see and smell the evidence on your clothes. You’re interviewing for a position where you’ll be the “face” of a clinic, not doing scutwork in the background. Look like they’d be doing themselves a disservice not to hire you (which, of course, they will), and you’ll be able to project those qualities more easily.

I spend my days in jeans and sweatshirts, but for my exam I bought a wool shift dress, matching shoes and bag and a conservative button down dress shirt to wear under the already conservative dress. Feeling like a professional gave me an edge that the girls in slacks and un-ironed blouses didn’t have.

Pull out all the stops, if this is the job you really want, do everything you can to get it, because you’ll kick yourself if you don’t.

8

This is an interview with your current employer for a job in another dept, but both your current and new position are for nurses of some type/level, rght?

If so, I HOPE the interviewer would be OK with seeing you wear the company uniform for your current position, and if that has some bodily fluids on it, well, he/she knows you’ve been working. I assume it’s common practice not to come to work with yesterday’s fluids on your outfit.

If you were interviewing for a non-medical position at someplace else, coming in with goop on your nurse outfit would be totally INappropriate. Heck, coming in in your nurse outfit, even if totally antiseptic, would be inappropriate.

But interviewing for a nurse position within your company, you should be fine. if you’re nervous about your appearance, say something like, “well we’re short-staffed upstairs, so I could either have taken time to change, or stayed to help Nurse X bathe /catheterize / feed / medicate Patient Y. I chose patient care over appearance; I hope you don’t mind.”, then smile your best innocent smile.

Finally, if the folks on your floor are jerks and the interview goes badly because of evidence of work on your uniform, it sure sounds like a company you’d be better off leaving pronto.
I interview & hire people pretty regularly. I always tell them to wear whatever they normally wear to their current job. I see no point in making them go to contortions to squeeze a makeover into a lunch hour as well as an interview.

Besides, I know damn near everybody can polish up nice for an hour if they really have to; I’m much more interested in how they look/act on a regular basis. Dress-up for interview is a way for the interviewee to try to fool me, and I don’t understand interviewers that insist that folks who try to fool them are somehow demostrating “commitment.”

But I admit my perspective is certainly a minority out there.

Good luck.

9

Thanks for all the advice. Its more keeping the job interview secret from my cow orkers than worrying about pulling a fast change job in a bathroom. If I have to wear a uni to the interview, I am sure it will be fine. Its just the way people treat anyone who seems to want to defect. If I dont get the new job, (which admittedly I have NO experience in, but a willingness to learn, and a past research paper on the subject) it will be thrown in my face at every chance, and used against me.
There is a small chance I will get a permanent position in the next month or so on my floor. (Trust me Id rather get new job, but full time work is full time work and no ones paying my way this life time) and I want to stay in the running.

Its all a delicate balance. But YAY ME Im going shopping for interview outfit tonight.

10

I was taught that you dress “one up” from the job you are applying for.

For example, if you are applying for a job in which you are required to wear a relaxed ensemble of khakis and a polo or button down then you should at least throw on a casual suit or wear the required attire with a jacket over it.

If the attire is jeans, steel-toe boots and a t-shirt then you should wear kahakis and a polo (for example.)

Seems to be tried and true on my end.

11

I vote for changing in the bathroom right before the interview. It really shouldn’t take you that long to accomplish. I once dressed for an interview in my car on the way to the interview because I didn’t want my old company to know I was applying for a different job. Of course, I ripped my pantyhose in the process, so bring an extra pair if you plan to dress in a hurry or wear the hose underneath your uniform if you plan to wear them.
Good luck!

12

Always dress for the interview, not the job, but part of that is not out-dressing the key interviewer(s). If you will meet a personnel guy in a tie and no jacket, do that. If it’s the boss in a three-piece, do that, and carry the jacket when talking to personnel, and roll up the sleeves when an aide gives you a tour of the plant and your last interview is with a floor manager.