I didn’t get many jobs before early last year. Before last year, I’d say that I had gone to perhaps ten or fifteen job interviews and been turned down for all of them. I might have said some bad things in interviews, but I don’t think I did, and I really didn’t say anything that would disqualify someone. I came wearing a teenager-ish version of “business casual”. I definitely looked respectable compared to other people in my age group.
But I didn’t get a single job. Not one. Then I bought a blazer, and I have gotten the last three jobs that I’ve interviewed for. I admit that that is not a lot of interviews, but that still means that my path has been about this:
approx. 0/10 or 0/15 -> blazer purchased -> 3/3
I’m not asking whether wearing a sport coat has improved my chances - I know it has - but I ask: is this a universal rule? Is a sportcoat always a ++ over what one might call “nice casual” or “business casual”?
I don’t think there are universal rules. The general rule is “dress one step better than what you’d wear to the job”. For some inverviews, a blazer is overdressed, for others it would be under dressed.
If you are interviewing for a professional position–anything higher than copy boy–then yes, at a minimum you should be wearing clean pants, a well-pressed shirt, a tie, and a jacket. This goes even if you are interviewing at Google or Apple or some other place with a laid back environment. If you want to be “casual” because it is a relaxed place and you want to show your fun side, wear a flashy or amusing tie. In fact, you should wear an inoffensive but memorable tie regardless, as nobody is going to remember you by your suit color, and being “the guy with the Snoopy tie” might just get you remembered at the end of the day in addition to or despite your qualifications. (I don’t recommend wearing a t-shirt that says “I <heart> toxic waste,” despite what you’ve seen in movies, at least not unless you really are one of the top ten minds in the country.) In general, you should dress “one step above” what you’d be wearing normally, but if normal attire is jeans and a t-shirt, don’t think you can get away with Dockers and a polo.
I have gone to an interview without a tie before (just a suit and clean shirt), but only because I knew that I was a shoe-in for the position and that the interview would consist of casual conversation punctuated by the occasional question about the best way to do a particular type of analysis. In that case, because I knew the interviewer personally, it would have seemed kind of stuffy to wear a tie.
For a structured interview in most corporate jobs, generally a suit and tie is required. I think you can get away with the blazer and dress pants (no tie) look if it is a more informal interview. I wouldn’t go any more casual than that.
Always wear a suit and tie to a white-collar interview. If you’re truly, genuinely overdressed, you’ll know that when you come in the door. Take off the coat, ditch the tie - problem solved. You can’t, however, magically poof a more formal set of clothes into existence.
Listen to this man, for her is wise. I say this thread title and thought to myself, “When *wouldn’t *you wear a blazer to a job interview?” But I suppose that’s just me being in my bubble again. I’ve never interviewed for a landscaping or porn fluffing position. I interviewed for a retail position once (got the job), and I wore a dress shirt, dress pants, and a jacket, but the pants and jacket weren’t part of a suit. I think I was wearing a plain, black dress jacket with grey pants. I thought a suit would have been overkill.
I’m not sure I agree. You don’t want to be sitting there in a suit and tie when the guy interviewing you is wearing jeans and a t-shirt. In the years I worked at Microsoft I never once saw an employee wearing a tie, not even higher-ups. This was in the trenches though, it might not apply if you’re in marketing or accounting or other non-technical positions. I agree that you don’t want to wear jeans and a t-shirt to the interview, even if your interviewers do. Or if you’re one of those eccentrics who has to wear your personal costume everywhere, you might as well show up wearing your costume because that’s how you’ll be most comfortable. But wash the food out of your beard at least.
Dress up for an interview. If you don’t, the interviewer is likely to think “If he isn’t even going to put some effort into this interview, why should I think he’s going to put any effort into his day-to-day job?”