I have an interview this Tuesday for a position in our corporate office. I currently have a supervisory position in one of our warehouses where the dress code for supervisors is business casual that you don’t mind getting dirty. Our corporate office is strictly business casual. The prospective position is of a non-managerial technical nature.
I’m trying to decide whether I should wear a suit to the interview or if nice business casual dress would be sufficient. If I were an outside candidate I think a suit would definitely be called for, but since I’m already “part of the family” can I get away with upscale business casual?
The suit will be better. Don’t go along thinking you are part of the family, you have to fight for this job. The interview is your big chance to show-off and let them see what they are getting. Good luck…kick ass.
Definitely a business suit for corporate office positions. In an interview, try to dress “up,” but be mainstream. White shirt, ordinary tie, no suspenders/fancy socks/handkerchief in coat pocket, etc. The exception would be a job that has a particular “uniform,” such as a concierge at a hotel.
In this particular case, since (I think) you’re a woman, a business suit.
Don’t worry about offending techies and other corporate people who dress business casual. They know you’re interviewing, so they tune out the suit. I certainly would. Once you’re part of the gang, you can dress the way they dress, but an outsider is expected to dress like an interviewee.
An engineer or tech writer interviewing for a position in a Silicon Valley company could get away with a nice coat/tie/slacks, but I wouldn’t recommend that anywhere else. Get a suit. Heck, both men and women can get nice ordinary suits from Land’s End for the cost of a coat and slacks at Macy’s.
When I worked at corporate HQ where business casual is the dress code, I would see a lot of people from the field who visit the home office. If you just dress neatly with coat, slacks, shined shoes, clean shirt, and a conservative tie, you’ll be fine. With a tie, you’re already more dressed up than anyone else at HQ. I would worry more about what you’ll be saying than how you’re dressed. Good luck.
230 pounds of rompin’, stompin’ all-American man actually…thanks for the great advice. I’ve dug one of my old suits out of the mothballs and to my surprise it still fits!