<p>I do alum interviews; if someone showed up in skimpy spandex, I’d probably comment on that! If it was a gym jacket and pants that covered up, I probably wouldn’t even notice.</p>
<p>"One note I have to make is that though I didn’t see Annie the day she went for her interview, she tends to wear very tight somewhat provocative types of gym clothes, contrary to how she normally dressed "</p>
<p>Oh, that’s a very different situation than I was imagining. I thought she was swearing a gym jacket and pants that covered up.</p>
<p>I agree with you: She should have worn something over that attire to cover up.</p>
<p>I remember a female alum who headed a regional admissions comittee who said she was turned off by an applicant (incidentally a state beauty contest winner who had 1600 scores on the old SAT) who came to the interview wearing high heels after a snowfall. (In addition, the applicant apparently acted like her ticket to admission was her scores and beauty contest win.) Applicant didn’t get in.</p>
<p>In the situation that you describe, if I’d interviewed the applicant, i would have had a hard time overlooking the attire – even with an explanation that the student had to go to work afterward. Her attire would have reflected a lack of common sense, and I also would have wondered how she “earned” her gpa. I’d have mentioned her attire in my report, too.</p>
<p>Well, its all fine and dandy to dress how you feel, or whatever, but if you are interviewing for an internship, you better darn wll think about where you want to be</p>
<p>My D really wanted an internship at the college radio station, a position that often can involve interviewing some “impressive” people…and if you want to be taken seriouslly, showing up in dirty or skin tight clothes for you internship interview is not showing confidence</p>
<p>I am not saying go cookie cutter, not at all, but saying hmmm, I might be interviewed by someone who does think about appearance a bit </p>
<p>Do you want to be remembered for yourself, or your clothes? If you wear a simple outfit that has touches of you and your style but also shows respect for the situation, that actually shows more confidence than someone who can only dress in what they are confortable in day to day</p>
<p>If my D had gone to that meeting in just her everyday, while appropriate attire, she wouldhave been seen for her potential, and shown that she is ready for other opportunities, and be seen as a professional young woman. </p>
<p>Sure, starbucks is starbucks, but life is all about connections.<br>
As for “preferances”, usually toning it down a bit, or dressing to show respect never do any harm, while showing up and beig remembered as the person in the tight jeans or sloopy hair or raggy sweatshirt, well…</p>
<p>you can wear a simple tshirt, sweater, and decent pants and be remembered for what you are SAYING as opposed to what you wore…however, if you do wear the appropriate clothing, you will most likely be seen as someone who pays attention to the situation and cares about it</p>
<p>Its all cute to say, oh, appearance and dress don’t matter, so go for it,while in reallity, the world doesn’t work that way</p>
<p>put it this way, if you show up in whatever, sure it might work out fine, however, is it worth the possibilty that you will get an interviewer who does notice attire and is older or more serious…is it worth the chance that you could be seen as not caring enough to bother stepping it up a bit</p>
<p>Confidence is shown by stepping out of your comfort zone, maturity in attitude, and realizing that the world doesn’t revolve around an 18 year old…it revovles around the people who make decisions and it never hurts to go, hmmm, maybe today is the day I wear my nicer dockers and sweater…instead of my old sweatshirt…“being confident in who you are” - is just swell, but it can also show you aren’t willing to stretch and change to adapt to situations, now that shows confidence</p>
<p>First, I’d like to strongly disagree with the idea that you should “be yourself” with respect to clothing you wear to an interview. Interview clothing (and behavior) is designed to present yourself positively and respectfully to the interviewer. Inappropriate attire sends a message of lack of respect, and a lack of seriousness.
However, in the specific situation under discussion, I agree that the issue could be (and hopefully was) defused by the interviewee saying, “I’m terribly sorry that I came to the interview in these gym clothes, but I have to run out to my job at the gym right after this.” Of course, if the outfit is really provocative, this may not be enough–or it should be covered up.</p>
<p>If the gym clothing was provocative, inappropriately tight/revealing, etc. then this is a different story. It seems odd that the girl, normally a conservative dresser, wouldn’t realize this. I do hope that she toned things down for the day, threw warm-ups over the outfit, or lucked into an interviewer who truly didn’t think anything of it. All possible.</p>
<p>Just as a side note, I still don’t think that the trouble here is with gym clothes, specifically. As in NSM’s anecdote, there are ways of dressing “nicely” that would have been similarly inappropriate. IMO, looking “respectful” (of self, interviewer, and situation) should be the goal. Whether or not sloppiness will ‘hurt your chances’ isn’t the point. </p>
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<p>^ I don’t think that “be yourself” and “present yourself positively and respectfully” have to be mutually exclusive. Even in the worst case, there’s a middle ground.</p>
<p>I cannot believe an employer who values the employee can’t provide 10 minutes to shower and change out of the normal schedule. Or that the interviewer could not move it back 10 minutes.</p>
<p>This is a weird conversation since no one seems to know what she actually wore. “Gym clothes” is a pretty vast catagory, especially when you consider she was going to work, not to work out.</p>
<p>Anyway, whoever she is, I hope her interview went well and there was more substance to it than her clothes. I expect she dressed for it the way she wanted to.</p>
<p>Ok for all of you dying to know, I found out she wore a pair of tight black legging type spandex workout pants, a tank top with a fitted jacket over it, sneakers,etc…this girl happens to have one amazing figure so the truth is fair or not,while it might be fine for a lesser looking girl, on her almost anything looks sensational which in this case could have hurt her. She has curves in all the right places, so though it is out of character for her to want to look sexy or provocative, she may well have come across that in any case. I hope too that the substance of the interview far surpassed anything that she wore and I truly hope she gets admitted as this is one of her two top picks. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>“I found out she wore a pair of tight black legging type spandex workout pants, a tank top with a fitted jacket over it, sneakers,etc” </p>
<p>I wouldn’t have had a problem with her attire given that she was scheduled to work at the health spa afterward.</p>
<p>Guess it’s a good thing she did not work at Hooters.</p>
<p>Guess so, barrons. But it could have been an interesting interview.</p>