Body language can speak volumes during interview

Goodbye nose rings, hello black pump - Don't turn gesture into a faux pas

By Nathan Bierma
Tribune staff reporter
Published July 30, 2002

Of all the headaches a tight job market has brought recent college graduates, one may not hit them until they look in the mirror: How to dress for job interviews.

With the National Association of Colleges and Employers predicting a 36 percent drop in hiring of college grads this year, will young job hunters feel the need to dress up and go easy on the piercings in order to jam their foot into the corporate door?

"Two years ago was a completely different market, and people were very relaxed, to the point where at job fairs we would see people come in with gym shoes on," says Jaime Velasquez, who runs campus job fairs as assistant director of the Office of Career Services at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "Now if you go to one of our job fairs, 98 percent of people are dressed really nice. With few jobs out there, people are trying to do anything and everything they can to impress people.

"Maybe four or five years ago we would see guys wearing earrings to interviews, and now they won't wear them because they know that will make an impression. We have seen the economy really hit people and make them think a little bit."

"I think people are more conscious, given that first impressions are more important," says Margaret Szebel, a senior finance major at DePaul University who has already begun her job search and is dressing formally for interviews. Christopher Fitch of Des Plaines, who graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May and is looking for an information technology position, says his job hunt now includes spending time in front of the mirror.

"I know when I went to my interview, I was all decked out, I had my suit, my tie, got my hair cut, I took out my earrings, I even debated whether I should shave my goatee," Fitch says. "Back when everybody needed a computer guy, it probably wasn't as big of a deal."

For cash-strapped recent graduates, a new wardrobe can be a blow to their bank accounts, not to mention an annoyance in the summer heat.

"Most of my graduation money is going for clothes for interviews," says Julie Berland of Geneva, who graduated from UIC in May and hopes to do technical writing. "I have my first interview outfit, my second interview outfit. I also have a wool outfit for winter, but there's no point in waiting there in a ridiculously hot suit."

It's best to overdress

"It's uncomfortable, but I'd rather go in there overdressed than underdressed," says Nick Leli of Chicago, a senior at DePaul looking for work in information technology. "I always wear a suit, shirt and tie; I never want to dress down."

"You get there, you're already nervous, you're in a hot suit and sweating. For women, we get our hair done, and by the time you get there you sweat it out," says Brandie Rolark of Chicago, who was just hired by Globalcom as a systems analyst after graduating from DeVry University last month. Luckily, she was granted relief from the heat for her interview with Globalcom. "I'm in a technical field so it's a little more laid-back. They e-mailed me saying, `Dress casual.'"

But while young interviewees generally seem to be getting the message about the importance of dressing for success, recruiters are amazed at some of the fashion statements that still come through their doors.

"Sometimes we'll see some risque outfits, to be honest," says Linda Buckley, vice president of human resources at La Salle Bank. "We've seen jeans and sneakers, it's gotten that bad at some points. We'll see people with very tight clothing. I don't know if they're not well-versed in what they should be wearing. ... But that will eliminate you pretty quickly."

Randall Hansen, marketing professor at Stetson University and publisher of a career advice webzine, says young job seekers shouldn't be too swayed by the casual revolution of the '90s.

"While we did see a shift in dress at the adult level to some relaxing of the rules, that shift has reversed itself and the workplace has returned to more formal days and few, if any, casual days," he says.

"I find teens do not like being told to dress differently for interviews. There is a sense of `This is who I am, so I should dress how I like,'" Hansen says. "By the time they are college students, they have come to realize that whether they like it or not, people are going to make judgments about you based on what you wear to an interview."

Job seekers also have to make some judgments when it comes to the newly gray area of what is appropriate, says Susan Bixler, author of five books on business dress and president of Atlanta-based The Professional Image.

"If you dress too informally the message is you don't care enough about this interview, you don't have respect or you're not perceptive enough to know that we are a professionally attired environment," she says. "If you dress too formally, it can send out the same message that you don't have an awareness of the company culture."

Still, Bixler says, better to err on the side of professionalism, especially when you're looking to get a foothold on the corporate ladder.

"With the job market tough as it is, anybody who gets a job should be delighted to put on slightly more formal clothing. It's not college, it's not a summer job, it's your career," says Bixler. "The amount of credibility you gain in the office by dressing professionally is huge. ... Young people are going to be discounted just because they don't have experience, and the way to look more experienced is to listen more than you talk and to dress older than you are."

What's the minimum?

Analysts agree that, depending on the field and the position, dress pants and a button-down shirt and tie are the minimum for young males, with the potential addition of a jacket. For females, a blouse and dress pants or a modest skirt is the norm, while the jury is still out on pantsuits.

"Conservative" is the rule, says Hansen, when it comes to piercings, tattoos, hair and lipstick.

Bixler says that in her seminars and speeches, her message about professional image is more pointed when she speaks to younger listeners.

"With the Baby Boomer group, I don't have to sell the value of dressing well. They get it," she says. "When I talk to younger groups, I spend time talking about body art. The Baby Boomers are still hiring you, and we don't get body art, we don't get piercings or blue hair. It's hard for us to overlook things that are foreign to us. So why limit your opportunities?"

And though such taboos may seem arbitrary to job hunters, Bixler says the underlying values transcend cultural trends.

"Dressing has and always will be a way to show respect, whether it is a date, a wedding, or a job interview -- or whether it's continuing, once you get a job, to show that you care about being at work."