help please with meeting protential employers

[brendon]

hi i will soon be attending a recuitment day for a job in a major furniture store in england. What should i wear should i go casual or in a suit and if you say a suit what sort and what sort of shirt. and what sort of tie i was thinkin a white shirt and plain colour tiei also like wearing tie clips/pins are they too much i do own an eyelet collar shirt with white collar and stipe body isit to much?

 

[Bugsy]

hi i will soon be attending a recuitment day for a job in a major furniture store in england. What should i wear should i go casual or in a suit and if you say a suit what sort and what sort of shirt. and what sort of tie i was thinkin a white shirt and plain colour tiei also like wearing tie clips/pins are they too much i do own an eyelet collar shirt with white collar and stipe body isit to much?

If this is a job interview, I would definitely be very conservative in what you choose to wear. I know someone who was recently turned down for a job after attending the interview in jeans and flip-flops, AND carrying his dog. And this is in Casual California.

 

[Rachael]

I would recommend visiting the shop to see what the average person in the position you are interviewing for is wearing. Then take that up one notch.

For example, if you find that shirtsleeves and ties are the norm, wear a jacket. I would try to avoid being either too casually or too formally dressed.

This way you communicate that you will fit nicely into the company, that you would be a good representative of their style to the public, and that you respect the interviewer enough to have done some homework.

 

[Max Flash]

Quite simply, wear a plain suit in a normal cut. Pinstripes might be construed as pretentious (depending on the interviewer - the same with shirts with white collars and coloured/patterned bodies) and anything too modern (e.g. four-button, or one-button) or too vintage might stand out too much. The suit can be grey/charcoal or navy blue, but not any other colour. Blue-green suits look strange in certain lights, particularly store lights, and black looks funereal.

My advice would be not to wear a white shirt - looks too much like school uniform and will make you look younger. Go for plain blue with a striped or polka-dot tie. Don't wear a pink shirt as some people have issues with pink, depending on where you are in England (I don't agree with this and wear pink shirts and ties often - however, it is amazing how frequently people, particularly men, will comment on this in a negative way). If wearing a plain shirt and suit, wear a patterned tie to stand out a bit, but not too much.

Wear black shoes, regardless of the colour of your suit. I cannot stress this enough!

I would not wear any tie-clips or tie-bars as this may seem fussy. Wear cufflinks if that is your preference but make them subdued - I like the silk knots one can buy in TM Lewin, etc. for these occasions.

You will look conservative but this can never be seen as wrong. Even if the dress code in the shop is not so formal, you will look like you are serious about the job and that you mean business. Wearing an odd jacket with chinos may be seen as too informal, or like you don't own a suit or couldn't be bothered to wear it, which is not the impression you want to give. Even if you get there and think you are over-dressed, do not acknowledge it - a suit can never be wrong (unless it is some kind of horrible nylon zoot suit - see other threads!).

Good luck!!

 

[brendon]

thank you all for your help i think i will forget the tie clip and possibly the suit as its only a recuirment day not an interview and if i ever get a job i will have to wera a uniform anyway i might go for a nice pair of trousers a shirt tie and a waistcoat so i dont look to over dressed

 

[Ace Fedora]

Good plan. And though it might seem obvious, take note of how the recruiters are dressed -- if they're in suits for a job fair, it's a good indicator of how dressed up the office environment is.