“I have nothing to wear!” We have all lamented this at some point or another, right? Don’t let this be you the morning of your interview. When you begin job searching, begin shopping in the stores or in your closet for an appropriate outfit. Ah yes (head scratch), but what does an appropriate outfit look like? Well, here is a good question for you: Typically what are people wearing at the company you are applying to work for? This ought to give you a great starting point. For example, if you are applying to work in a warehouse and most of the employees are wearing tattered, dirty jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt, then use this as your base and “one-up” them. Perhaps you will find a pair of dark dress jeans, a polo shirt, and some nice shoes to wear to the interview. If you are thinking of applying for an office position, and most of the employees are wearing chic trendy attire, you may want to consider pulling out that pencil skirt, closed-toed kitten heels, and beautiful white blouse for your interview. If you are thinking about applying for a retail sales position with Lululemon, you may want to wear that super cute dress you recently purchased from them when you apply. You get the idea.
Now, what is not appropriate? It would not be appropriate to show up to that warehouse interview in a tux. It would not be appropriate to wear a Halloween costume–adorned with blood, guts, and sinew–to an interview for an office job. And it would not be appropriate to wear nightclub attire to your Lululemon interview. Moreover, it is definitely not appropriate to wear low-cut, transparent blouses; tube tops; spaghetti-strapped tank tops; skirts significantly above the knee; excessively tight clothing; clothing you have worn a handful of times and have not yet washed; stained clothing; ridiculously loud or offensive logos; or flip flops to the interview. Additionally, we recommend going with neutral colours for both your attire and, for the ladies, your makeup. Some might say this seems like common sense; however, common sense is not so common it would seem.