How Guys Should Dress for the Interview in Today's World
How guys should dress for an interview is one of the most common questions I get. As an experienced HR and Recruitment professional that has worked in major cities and regions like San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Toronto, Seattle, and Tampa, I try to provide my candidates good advice in not letting something as trivial as “how guys should dress for the interview” get in the way of candidates getting their dream job.
Dressing for an interview has been something people generally have put a lot of thought into, but people have never spent so much energy on looking like they haven't put that much thought into what they're wearing until the last ten years or so. Perhaps it's even harder now than ever for men to dress for an interview.
For those who work in finance, banking, or a suited and booted field, this article isn't for you. This is for the West Coast San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Denver, Los Angeles, or Austin startup, ad agency, design shop, game studio, or creative tech company that has expressed that they're looking for a 'cultural fit' for every hire. This is to help how guys should dress for the interview in that type of work environment.
Before we delve into clothing, perhaps we should touch base on what a cultural fit in an office place actually means. I could do a whole lengthy Podcast on this, and maybe I will someday. Often time, when companies reference “cultural fit”, they're stating that they’re professionally casual in appearance. They probably have a handful of hipsters working there and surely have a foosball or ping-pong table that doesn't get dusty. I’m sure most companies will argue that “cultural fit” means a lot more than this, and it certainly does, but for the sake of simplifying the topic for dress-attire, let’s keep it simple… If you can get a sweaty brow from playing ping-pong in it, you can wear it to the interview. When planning your outfit for your first impressions at a company like this, just take it up one step from what you would wear any day to an office.
Interview Outfit Guidelines:
Don't wear a suit! Unless your role will be a client facing one, I wouldn't recommend wearing a suit for the interview. As a Recruiter, I can honestly say people have been rejected for roles at interviewers based off of not being a “cultural fit” because they wore a suit to the interview.
Don't wear sneakers or exercise shoes, unless they’re clean, crisp, and they’re the kind that you wouldn’t actually exercise in. Fashion athleisure shoes are acceptable if the rest of the outfit is polished, and the shoes are slightly in contrast. Only go down this route if you’re confident in pulling it off.
Now let's talk jeans. They are perfectly fine to wear and even recommended, but only under these conditions: Dark in color looks best, they should have have no holes and fit well not being too baggy or too skinny and they should be hemmed or fit so they aren't too long.
Suit jackets are a nice touch with jeans.
T-shirts are ok. As a general rule since I can't review every t-shirt, make sure it's new-ish, well fitting, and has no offensive graphics. You can't lose with a nice clean white, black or gray not too low cutting v-neck.
Pair it with some dressy shoes or some high end skater shoes if you're an artist or engineer.
If you have facial hair, just groom it well. :)
I'm going to bring up the dreaded suit again to really drive my feelings home on this topic. My brother graduated a few years ago with a degree in Fine Arts and was looking for a job in Graphic Design. A family member that's very successful in Hospitality and Hotels told him to wear a suit to interviews and even bought him a very nice suit. Wow! What a nice gesture, but not accurate at all.
Again, for someone who may work in a field that has traditional roots and is more service oriented, a suit may be required for the interview. If you're interviewing at a West Coast startup, or a creative tech company in a major city like New York or Chicago, no-go on the suit. Save the suit for the Holiday Party. You won't need it for the interview. This is truly how guys should dress for the interview in today’s world.
