@medz If you know the industry, happen to know what I can expect in the technical portions of the interview? Is it whiteboarding, language trivia, or something else?
@Pantheist It’s probably safe to assume that business professional attire in any industry requiring an advanced degree will mean a suit and tie. It’s not strictly true, but better to err on the side of being the best dressed candidate.
If you are asking, it sounds like you are thinking suit but hoping we vote khakis. If is more than one day, start with the suit and be prepared to go khakis if that is the accepted form.
I agree with better to be over dressed. You can loosen up later but make that first impression count.
@sammydog01 I use to go to work dressed almost “beach bum” casual. My normal attire includes catshirts. I’m probably not the one to ask.
/giphy cat suit
@Pantheist I would be scrambling if I had to wear formal somewhere. I have gotten away with business casual for a long time. I am firmly in the comfortable rather than sharp dress camp. If I was bright enough to move somewhere warm, I would be with @narfcake in the catshirts.
@therealjrn No sweat, I do not forsee anything in my future that needs anything fancy. I am old enough to relax and they can deal with me as I am.
Condolences on your loss. I have made the funeral home rounds for close family but I am lucky enough to still have my parents. They were smart enough to move southwest so I do have warm places to visit.
@Pantheist Check at second hand stores. Particularly upscale second hand stores like those often run by charities for domestic violence victims or children’s shelters. Call your local Junior League, and ask if there are any local resale shops they support. In our community the well-off folks donate to specific charities. You can get high-quality gently used brand-name clothing for a fraction of the price if you know where to shop. Women’s clothes are in more abundance as women tend to change their closet to reflect changing fashions. However men’s clothing does get donated just not in as much volume.
Several things impact business attire. Some are mentioned above.
One I don’t see, maybe I just missed, is location, not just state or region, but urban or rural and even to an extent red or blue.
I used to have an account rep in the health care industry that say she had to wardrobes - one for the eastern side of her territory, one for the west. And if she miswore, she could loose an account. One required business professional, which for a woman then was skirt, jacket, hose, pumps. The other was business casual, pants and polo style shirt (logo’d okay). They were in places about 10 miles a part (sometimes a bit more, but no more than 30 from one end to the other).
Aim for the middle in the first day and ask to see a copy of the dress code policy if it is not in your employee handbook and pay close attention to what those in the roles above you and equal to you wear.
Random thought…what happens if you are underdressed a bit? Are we talking a fancy meeting or conference setting? Maybe an interview or sales presentation? If it is a not huge problem, can you deal with it? I am thinking along the lines of attitude and demeanor, here. If you were the only one business casual, would you be nervous and distracted about it all day or get to the reason you are there?
@speediedelivery It’s an interview, and they specified business causal for one part and business professional for another. This is my first time being told to wear business professional, so it threw me a bit. It wouldn’t throw me, but I’m thinking I should follow instructions.
@Pantheist oh yeah, suit,white shirt, tie, dress shoes, understated shiny watch. Brush up on your buzz words. Review your Emily Post if they are taking you to lunch
@Pantheist I agree, if it is spelled out that way, you could lose the job by not following directions. (Says random person online with no stake in it ) Best of luck, sounds like a good opportunity.
Overdress a little, not excessively, for biz casual dinner.
Ask people who work at very good companies in the area. Or ask people who know people who …
Every biz physical region has its “look”, just as professions do. Diff areas and diff professions have diff standards.
East Coast big city Fortune 500 or better means dress nicely.
Buy or rent a suit that fits. Not tight. Confortable. Wear it in advance for some hours, doing normal things. Get comfortable.
I hear Pennys is decent for suits. Or men’s Warehouse. But ask around. I wouldn’t know. Perhaps those are not nice enough. OTOH, presumable they know you’ve been in school tho.
If you can do better than that with suits, do better. Big city people have eyes for clothing quality. Rent if you need to. But the suit is background, not foreground. Nothing to notice except that they draw no negative impressions.
And not as straight-laced as a top law firm interview.
If you can score a better quality suit (better than cheap) they will notice that. So do it if you can. Might be worth renting something nice, but not showy or expensive, to accomplish that.
If you can afford it, go to Barney’s. They will know what you need. Just make sure it’s comfortable.
The biz casual clothes should also be not showy, but visibly decent/nice. Better than your usual. Better than Maine.
Figure out how to be relaxed in whatever you wear. Act like you know how to wear the clothes without a fuss. Act like you could wear those clothes all day and it would be cool.
SHOES!!!
They must be appropriate to the expectations, and nice.
They must be comfortable for all day including walking a lot.
No exceptions! Do not fuck up the shoes! (Unless you want to lose a job offer over shoes, or you don’t mind being in pain all day.)
The shoes should be broken in. You should be able to wear them all day, with a lot of walking. People walk in East coast cities.
Ask anyone you know who works in a fortune 500 company, investment bank, or big city law firm or accounting environment at a professional rank, on the east coast. Those are the people who know best, both about suits and about biz casual.
All this is for the interviews and vetting and perhaps the first few days.
After that, dress like the more successful and well-regarded co-workers.
Where bigcorp is a buncha diff Fortune 500 companies. Apple, Google, Goldman, Chase, an airline, FaceBook, Starbucks, ATT, agribiz, pharma, insurance, etc. Plus energy/mining/resources companies (that’s the area, isn’t it)?
Doesn’t matter if they are in the same field or same location, tho some of them should be.
Just get a wide knowledge of what important powerful companies look for in interviews. All of them want some common qualities.
Know everything you can about the company. And ask good questions during the interview.
And of course google
Interview mybigcorp
And
Interview mybigcorp it
And so on.
Be prepared if they bring up anything negative, not enough education, other concerns, whatever. Life pressures such as moving. Know how you will deal with these questions. Have cnon-facile answers that sound sincere and open without being too apologetic. Don’t go on and on.
Emphasize how you have/will move forward. How everything problematic has been dealt with or will be dealt with.
Stay cool, positive, not stupidly so. Sound confident. Be candid about shortcomings they are aware of, and how you will deal with them, but keep it brief.
It might not hurt to mention your own thoughts on how you will get up to speed.
Hope you can crib some info on the technical stuff from sometime.
If you don’t ace this one (I think you will, but life is weird and unpredictable), you will ace the next one.
Suit for sure. Besides, it’s always better to overdress than underdress.
Khakis sounds more like business casual.
@RiotDemon They did say business casual for dinner the night before.
What type of business is it? What industry?
@medz Scientific computing at a company in the energy industry
@Pantheist suit and tie for sure
@medz If you know the industry, happen to know what I can expect in the technical portions of the interview? Is it whiteboarding, language trivia, or something else?
@Pantheist don’t know that specific industry that well and it would depend on the specific company I would think.
Good luck!
@medz Fair enough, thanks
@Pantheist It’s probably safe to assume that business professional attire in any industry requiring an advanced degree will mean a suit and tie. It’s not strictly true, but better to err on the side of being the best dressed candidate.
If you are asking, it sounds like you are thinking suit but hoping we vote khakis. If is more than one day, start with the suit and be prepared to go khakis if that is the accepted form.
I agree with better to be over dressed. You can loosen up later but make that first impression count.
@speediedelivery I just don’t have a suit
@Pantheist me neither. Seems like a good excuse to get a couple.
@Pantheist I bet @narfcake could pick up a suit for you cheap.
@sammydog01 I use to go to work dressed almost “beach bum” casual. My normal attire includes catshirts. I’m probably not the one to ask.
/giphy cat suit
@narfcake
East coast vs West coast.
@Pantheist I would be scrambling if I had to wear formal somewhere. I have gotten away with business casual for a long time. I am firmly in the comfortable rather than sharp dress camp. If I was bright enough to move somewhere warm, I would be with @narfcake in the catshirts.
@speediedelivery I wore black jeans to my Sainted Mother’s funeral. Don’t sweat it.
@therealjrn No sweat, I do not forsee anything in my future that needs anything fancy. I am old enough to relax and they can deal with me as I am.
Condolences on your loss. I have made the funeral home rounds for close family but I am lucky enough to still have my parents. They were smart enough to move southwest so I do have warm places to visit.
@speediedelivery I mean, I do like how I look in a suit, but it’s time and money I don’t really have right now to get one that fits.
@Pantheist Could you rent one like you can rent a tux?
@Pantheist Check at second hand stores. Particularly upscale second hand stores like those often run by charities for domestic violence victims or children’s shelters. Call your local Junior League, and ask if there are any local resale shops they support. In our community the well-off folks donate to specific charities. You can get high-quality gently used brand-name clothing for a fraction of the price if you know where to shop. Women’s clothes are in more abundance as women tend to change their closet to reflect changing fashions. However men’s clothing does get donated just not in as much volume.
@Pantheist Champagne tastes, beer budget. Story of my life.
@pantheist don’t steal (heist) the pants.
/image business professional
Looks itchy, pass.
Bright lights, big city.
Dress up.
Dress down later.
Suits for interviews. Biz casual for work.
Several things impact business attire. Some are mentioned above.
One I don’t see, maybe I just missed, is location, not just state or region, but urban or rural and even to an extent red or blue.
I used to have an account rep in the health care industry that say she had to wardrobes - one for the eastern side of her territory, one for the west. And if she miswore, she could loose an account. One required business professional, which for a woman then was skirt, jacket, hose, pumps. The other was business casual, pants and polo style shirt (logo’d okay). They were in places about 10 miles a part (sometimes a bit more, but no more than 30 from one end to the other).
Aim for the middle in the first day and ask to see a copy of the dress code policy if it is not in your employee handbook and pay close attention to what those in the roles above you and equal to you wear.
Brooks Brothers, or Hickey Freeman
Random thought…what happens if you are underdressed a bit? Are we talking a fancy meeting or conference setting? Maybe an interview or sales presentation? If it is a not huge problem, can you deal with it? I am thinking along the lines of attitude and demeanor, here. If you were the only one business casual, would you be nervous and distracted about it all day or get to the reason you are there?
@speediedelivery It’s an interview, and they specified business causal for one part and business professional for another. This is my first time being told to wear business professional, so it threw me a bit. It wouldn’t throw me, but I’m thinking I should follow instructions.
@Pantheist oh yeah, suit,white shirt, tie, dress shoes, understated shiny watch. Brush up on your buzz words. Review your Emily Post if they are taking you to lunch
@Pantheist I agree, if it is spelled out that way, you could lose the job by not following directions. (Says random person online with no stake in it
) Best of luck, sounds like a good opportunity.
Overdress a little, not excessively, for biz casual dinner.
Ask people who work at very good companies in the area. Or ask people who know people who …
Every biz physical region has its “look”, just as professions do. Diff areas and diff professions have diff standards.
East Coast big city Fortune 500 or better means dress nicely.
Buy or rent a suit that fits. Not tight. Confortable. Wear it in advance for some hours, doing normal things. Get comfortable.
I hear Pennys is decent for suits. Or men’s Warehouse. But ask around. I wouldn’t know. Perhaps those are not nice enough. OTOH, presumable they know you’ve been in school tho.
If you can do better than that with suits, do better. Big city people have eyes for clothing quality. Rent if you need to. But the suit is background, not foreground. Nothing to notice except that they draw no negative impressions.
And not as straight-laced as a top law firm interview.
If you can score a better quality suit (better than cheap) they will notice that. So do it if you can. Might be worth renting something nice, but not showy or expensive, to accomplish that.
If you can afford it, go to Barney’s. They will know what you need. Just make sure it’s comfortable.
The biz casual clothes should also be not showy, but visibly decent/nice. Better than your usual. Better than Maine.
Figure out how to be relaxed in whatever you wear. Act like you know how to wear the clothes without a fuss. Act like you could wear those clothes all day and it would be cool.
SHOES!!!
They must be appropriate to the expectations, and nice.
They must be comfortable for all day including walking a lot.
No exceptions! Do not fuck up the shoes! (Unless you want to lose a job offer over shoes, or you don’t mind being in pain all day.)
The shoes should be broken in. You should be able to wear them all day, with a lot of walking. People walk in East coast cities.
Ask anyone you know who works in a fortune 500 company, investment bank, or big city law firm or accounting environment at a professional rank, on the east coast. Those are the people who know best, both about suits and about biz casual.
All this is for the interviews and vetting and perhaps the first few days.
After that, dress like the more successful and well-regarded co-workers.
https://amp.businessinsider.com/how-to-ace-an-interview-at-companies-like-google-and-facebook-2017-10
https://www.fastcompany.com/3061237/the-skills-it-takes-to-get-hired-at-google-facebook-amazon-and-more
Google
interview bigcorp
Where bigcorp is a buncha diff Fortune 500 companies. Apple, Google, Goldman, Chase, an airline, FaceBook, Starbucks, ATT, agribiz, pharma, insurance, etc. Plus energy/mining/resources companies (that’s the area, isn’t it)?
Doesn’t matter if they are in the same field or same location, tho some of them should be.
Just get a wide knowledge of what important powerful companies look for in interviews. All of them want some common qualities.
Know everything you can about the company. And ask good questions during the interview.
And of course google
Interview mybigcorp
And
Interview mybigcorp it
And so on.
Be prepared if they bring up anything negative, not enough education, other concerns, whatever. Life pressures such as moving. Know how you will deal with these questions. Have cnon-facile answers that sound sincere and open without being too apologetic. Don’t go on and on.
Emphasize how you have/will move forward. How everything problematic has been dealt with or will be dealt with.
Stay cool, positive, not stupidly so. Sound confident. Be candid about shortcomings they are aware of, and how you will deal with them, but keep it brief.
It might not hurt to mention your own thoughts on how you will get up to speed.
Hope you can crib some info on the technical stuff from sometime.
If you don’t ace this one (I think you will, but life is weird and unpredictable), you will ace the next one.
@pantheist Please keep us updated on how this went.
Yes, be sure to let us know if you totally blow it.
@dashcloud @medz will do.
@Pantheist
Pls include pix and video of your total humiliation after you blow it!
You want us to share this event, don’t you?
@f00l I don’t show up in pictures- all you’d see is a suit standing on its own.
@Pantheist So you’re saying you’re a vampire?
@dashcloud Is that the one that doesn’t show up? I did just watch Buffy, but I don’t particularly like blood outside of a good steak.
@Pantheist You could stream this live via apple watch. Sell access, create MehLive. Show those morningsave weenies a thing or two.
@f00l
