With the school year coming to an end and summer right around the corner, students are starting to apply for jobs and hopefully scoring some interviews! Whether you’re looking for a summer job, volunteer/intern experience, or starting a co-op term, you’re likely to be faced with the challenge of finding the perfect outfit to wear to your interview. Although interviews are conducted to learn more about your experience, skills, and personality, your outfit really does play a part in the hiring process! It’s important to look professional and put together. If you show up looking like you just woke up and threw on a t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops, you’re not going to look very organized. On the other hand, if you come looking clean, tidy, and in appropriate business clothing, it will appear that you are totally organized and serious about the job (even if you are the most unorganized person out there). Here are some ideas for what to wear to achieve that put together look!
Blouse
The type of blouse you wear to your interview completely depends on what type of job setting you are trying to work for. If you are going to an interview at a corporate business that is super professional, you need to dress super professional. A blouse is always a great option because they look very sophisticated. They are also really light and airy so when you start getting nervous, you won’t be sweating buckets. Try to stick to a blouse that is simple, conservative, and a solid (preferably a neutral colour). It is important to look simple and professional so that the interviewers can focus on what you’re saying instead of being distracted by the explosion of patterns on your shirt. The shirt on the left could be paired with black pants (like the ones down below) and a pair of simple black heels. On the other hand, if you are attending an interview that is at a more casual work setting such as a media related job or fashion/beauty job for example, you can show a little bit more personality with your outfit. With this type of job interview you still want to look professional, but you can also add in some colour and design. A blouse with a design is perfectly acceptable, but try and keep it to a minimum. The blouse on the right could be paired with black pants, a red lip, and matching red heels for a little splash of colour and personality.
Dress Pants
Dress pants are super important for job interviews. Even if you don’t have a job interview coming up, you should still invest in a pair because you will definitely need them at one point or another! Black dress pants are an easy option because they can be paired with pretty much anything. Any blouse would look great with these pants. Skinny-legged dress pants also look great with heels. Whether your interview is very professional or on the more casual side, you can never go wrong with wearing a sophisticated pair of dress pants.
Blazer
A blazer pulls your entire outfit together. The style of blazer, however, depends on what type of job you are aiming for. For a more professional setting, you are going to want to wear a more proper, form fitting, button up blazer with a collar. This looks very professional and will look great with your blouse. If you’re interviewing for a casual job, you can go with a casual blazer. You will still look sophisticated, but on a more relaxed level.
Heels
A pair of simple heels is always a safe bet when going to an interview. But remember, if you can’t walk in them, do not wear them! It’s important to be comfortable in your shoes at your interview because firstly, you don’t want to be stumbling around your future employers, and secondly, you need to be focused on your interview and not your screaming feet! Like mentioned before, with a more serious work environment you want to stick with simple shoes, whether it be a heel or a flat. If you’re going to wear heels, the heel itself shouldn’t be more then 2 inches. You want to keep your clubbing shoes and work shoes separate. If you feel like your potential work environment is a little more casual and you can incorporate a little colour into your look, then feel free to spice it up with a coloured heel like these red ones!
It’s always smart to dress to impress when attending interviews if you aren’t quite sure what type of work setting it will be. You could show up super dressy and your interviewers may be in jeans, but that’s okay! It’s always better to be over-dressed then under-dressed, as they say! You can gauge what type of outfits you can and cannot wear while you’re there for your interview. If you get the job, maybe you will be allowed to wear shorts and flip flops to work, but for the interview it’s important to look your best! Good luck on any upcoming interviews Golden Hawks; we hope you rock them!