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Anna Posyniak‑Dutka Who Dresses Up… or Down Wins

It’s not always easy to choose the right outfit for a job interview. Keep it professional. A suit jacketsuit jacketsuit jacket and slacksslacksslacks are always a safe choice. Avoid flashy coloursflashy colours [flashy colour]flashy colours. All these seem to be good advice, but is it always so? Here are two accounts of people whose fashion choicesfashion choices [fashion choice]fashion choices affected their interview results.

Ben, 26, junior programmer

I had always thought that men have it easy when it comes to choosing clothes for an interview. You just opt foropt foropt for a good old classic suitgood old classic suitgood old classic suit and the problem is solved. That was until I attended the interviewattended the interview [attend an interview]attended the interview at the Coding Hub, a really big programming company, a few years ago. It wasn’t my first interview, so one could think that I should have known better. I certainly knew that the programmers’ environment was rather relaxed in terms ofin terms ofin terms of dress codedress codedress code, but, on the other hand, it was an interview, and not a friendly chat with a bunch of colleagues after work. I had that classic navy bluenavy bluenavy blue suit which I put on for all my interviews so I didn’t spend much time considering any other options. I wore it many times before and it had always worked. That time, though, I knew something was not right the moment I entered the building. The office manager welcomed me, but I also noticed how she sized me upsized me up [size sb up]sized me up in my perfectly pressed slacksperfectly pressed slacksperfectly pressed slacks. She was wearing bright red jeans and a T‑shirt. From that point it was worse with every step I took. As she was leading me through the open space I was feeling curious lookscurious looks [curious look]curious looks of employees following me all the way to the conference roomconference roomconference room where I was awaited by three laid‑backlaid‑backlaid‑back and casually dressedcasually dressedcasually dressed programmers. I felt as if I was there to take over the company in the first week of my work there. However, the worst was yet to happen. After a few minutes we were joined by the head of the departmenthead of the departmenthead of the department. As he entered the room I noticed, and so did he, that we were wearing exactly the same ties. Never before had I felt so tensetensetense. Fortunately, he saw the funny side of ithe saw the funny side of it [see the funny side of something]he saw the funny side of it. He quickly approached me, shook my hand and said that somebody with good tastegood tastegood taste such as mine would definitely be a great addition to his team. I got that job and stayed with the company for 5 years.

Emma, 25, jewellery designer

I have always been told to keep makeupkeep makeup to a minimumkeep makeup and accessories to a minimumkeep accessories to a minimumaccessories to a minimum at a job interview. After all, it isn’t a fashion showfashion showfashion show but a formal situation in which a future employer has a chance to ask us some questions and get to know us better. Unless you’re actually applying for a job in the fashion industryfashion industryfashion industry! I graduated from the College of Fine Artsfine artsFine Arts with a degree in jewellery design a few years ago, and before I opened my own little design workshop, I had applied for jobs with fashion houses all over the country. Obviously, I sent them a portfolio with photos of my work, but I decided it was natural to also wear some of my own designs during the job interview. That time I checked the company’s website to get a general idea of what they wore in the office. People looked as if they had just left the catwalkcatwalkcatwalk, so the bar was set highbar was set high [set the bar high]bar was set high. My goal was to show my style and expose the jewellery items of my own design. For that purpose I put on a long‑sleevedlong‑sleevedlong‑sleeved tightly‑fittedtightly‑fittedtightly‑fitted maxi dressmaxi dressmaxi dress to create a neutral backdropneutral backdropneutral backdrop for my silver necklace. It consisted of poppiespoppies [poppy]poppies with red petalspetals [petal]petals and a silver inner part. I added matching earringsmatching earrings [matching earring]matching earrings and a braceletbraceletbracelet. The set was one of the designs I was most proud ofproud ofproud of back then. I was feeling like a queen of the show when I was walking through the design department on the way to the creative directorcreative directorcreative director’s office. I knew I was being closely watched. The interview wasn’t easy. They asked me a lot of difficult questions, but I thought it went quite well. Sadly, I didn’t get the job. When they rang me they said I lacked experience they were looking for. I still think it was jealousyjealousyjealousy.

1 Źródło: Anna Posyniak‑Dutka, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.