Tips on how to dress for a job interview

First impressions are incredibly important for an interview, and what you wear could make or break your chances of getting the job. Head of The Careers Clinic, Eoghan McDermott gives us his Dos and Don’ts of dressing for one.

By Eoghan McDermott

You literally only get one opportunity to make a first impression, so you’d better be dressed and groomed to the nth degree when you go to the job interview. People employ people who they think will do their company credit. If you arrive into the interview wearing ripped jeans, decorated with earnings, the interview panel don’t think, “He only looks like this at the weekends and probably has a wardrobe full of business suits that he’ll wear as soon as we give him the job.” They think, “Jaysus, he’s a scruffy bugger”. Two of the best pieces of advice I was given about dress were:

(a)   Dress how you’d like to be perceived.

(b)   Dress for the job that you want, not the job that you’re in.

When you get the job, what you have to do is dress the part you want to become. Once you’re in an organisation start taking a look at the influencers. These are people who make the decisions about your career. What way do they dress themselves? Do they dress casually or formally, what is there approach and mirror image that. You have to adopt the mindset of the people who make the decisions

When you are deciding what to wear, don’t forget the following DO’s and DON’Ts.

Do ask for advice. And not from your mother or your girlfriend. If possible try and ask somebody who specialises in clothes. For men there are specialist tailors (Louis Copeland) that you can go to, or alternatively all the big department stores (Marks and Spencer) have advisers.

Do co-ordinate your outfit. Even though you may love a certain tie, be sure it matches the rest of the outfit and doesn’t distract.

Do underplay your clothes. You need to be remembered for what you are, not what you wore. I know of interview panels when at the end of a long day of interviewing, the board members have referred to individuals encountered during the day as “Your man with the shocking tie” or “the fella with the crazy socks”.

Don’t fiddle with cuffs or edges or jackets or jewellery during an interview. Get in, get sitting down with your arse in the back of the chair, do any arranging you need to and then from then on forget your clothing.

Don’t wear distractions. Distractions are ties with crazy designs on them.

Don’t wear anything louder than yourself.

Clothes and appearance are important. Important in a way that you make sure they become just background. Another thing to watch for is how you smell. BO is an obvious NoNo, but too much of the nice smellys can be over powering too. Aim to smell of roses, just not too many. Also watch for what you eat or drink the night before. Especially watch for Garlic. And booze. I love garlic. I love it on my steak, with chicken, even mushrooms. I hate it when I’m interviewing someone. It comes at you like waves from the Atlantic. Except not as refreshing. Never drink the evening before an interview. I interviewed a gentleman last year and after five minutes the room (a very large room I might add) absolutely stank of booze. Now the fella may have been saying wonderful things in the interview, but the fact that he came into the interview like that already put a large X by his name.

However, a final “don’t” to remember is…don’t spend all your time worrying about clothes. A client once came into me and said he had been worrying for days over two suits and which one to wear. I had a look at them, told him to flip a coin and to get back preparing for his interview.

If you have a question about your job or career that Eoghan could help you with, why not email Joe at [email protected]?

Eoghan McDermott is Head of The Careers Clinic in The Communications Clinic and is the author of The Career Doctor- How to Get and Keep the Job You Want.

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