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Subject:Re: interview suits From:Chuck Martin <techwriter -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 27 Sep 1994 16:01:20 PDT
I can only relate my experience, with the caveat that I'm *very*
individualistic.
I never planned to go through the whole routine: campus interviews
through the engineering dept.'s career center, etc., but when a couple
of large computer companies came to town, I figured it would be good
experience.
Of all the male students there those two days (two interviews for
two different companies), I was the only one not in a black or dark
blue suit. I wore casual, Dockers'like casual slacks, a colored shirt,
and a decidedly non-conservative colored tie. No jacket. A large part
of my thoughts behind it: this is the way I am, a comfortable, laid
back person. If you're not comfortable with me is more relaxed dress,
that I probably won't be comfortable working for your company.
Also, I feel strongly that my ability, my work, and my experience
say a lot more about what I can do for a company that how I dress.
One interviewer even said that they typically wanted at least
Masters degrees (I was getting my BS in Technical Communication),
and I relied along the lines of with writing, you improve by writing,
and that I had already had quite a bit of experience.
I got onsite interviews from both campus interviews. For both onsite
interviews, I was just as casual, and received one job offer, where
every day is casual: t-shirts, golf shirts, jeans, slacks, and even
short sometimes. And I'm still producing quality writing.
One thing that I did: I took several writing and macro programming
samples, my resume, my transcript, and letters of recommendation, made
a cover sheet, and took the whole package to a copy shop, putting the
cover sheet on colored cardstock. I handed to entire package to
everyone I interviewed with and said it was theirs to keep and review
at their leisure. That recieved a lot of positive response.
Some might say that your dress depends on the company you are interviewing
at. However, I think a company is hiring a person, and for me, I'm
not going to hide how I am, my style, for an interview. So I'd say
be yourself, however you feel comfortable, and increase your odds of
being happy in whatever job you find.
Chuck Martin 38-20! Yeah! Go Huskies!
Information Developer, IBM
techwriter -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com - techwriter -at- aol -dot- com - 74170,2462 -at- compuserve -dot- com
