Attitude and Dress Code for an Interview (General College Advice)
By a Student, Anastasia Kolovani
An interview is something we all have to go through when we get a job after college and to make sure you're starting off on a good note, you want to dress well. First let's start with women and their dress code. A pencil skirt is great with a button down shirt or a ruffled blouse and a suit jacket on top. Make sure colors are conservative, meaning they are on the black, navy, or dark blue color palate. You can also wear a suit with dress pants as well. For your shoes, you want to have heels, but not six-inch heels with pink glitter all over them. Keep the heels on the low end. Remember, you are not walking the runway here. For your nails, put on a clear nail polish or a very light translucent pink one. Don't have the ten-inch long nails with a pink and green French manicure. Your nails should not be outrageous in their colors because you want to look professional and crazy colors just make you look like you still want to party and you'd rather be at a party rather than at the interview.
Now, let's get to the no-no's for an interview for women. Don't wear extremely tight, short skirts. Don't wear fish net stockings. Don't wear anything that is a neon color. And don't put too much perfume. Your perfume might smell amazing, but too much of it can hurt the nose. Remember that first impressions mean a lot. Even though you've always been taught to never judge a person by a first impression, well, looking like that makes the person conducting the interview want to pass on you. Also, don't wear heavy makeup. This isn't girls? night out and the smoky eye shouldn't even be considered. What you should do is a little mascara and a thin line of eyeliner. If you want eye shadow, make it a neutral color. Lipstick or lip gloss should be close to your lip color.
Now, the men. You should wear a dark colored suit, white button down shirt underneath, a tie, and shoes. No funny ties and make sure your suits don't have any holes in them. That is a big let down and let's the person conducting the interview know that you don't care enough for the job since you couldn't even make sure you looked presentable for the interview. Also, lay off the cologne. But if you want to put on some, remember this - a little goes a long way. Also, make sure to not have your underwear show or your shirt open to reveal your chest. No one wants to see your chest. You're not out dancing here anyways.
Once you get the dress code right, you want to make sure you walk in with the right attitude. You want to send good energy vibes to the person conducting the interview by smiling and showing them you are a respectful and confident person. To do that, you want to shake their hand firmly, make eye contact, and put on an assured smile to let them know you really want this. Never act like you don't care because the interviewer won't care either then and just move onto someone else.
Don't slouch on your chair. Slouching shows that you don't want to be here and the interviewer will think you don't care again which will lead to you not getting the job. When you are asked a question, let the interviewer finish the question and then answer. Don't just jump in and cut him or her off. You could miss an important part of the question that way which will lead you to not answer the question fully. Think of it as though you are back in class and are starting an exam. You always read the full directions because if you miss one part, you could lose a lot of points there.
You only get one chance at an interview and you want to give the best impression you can by giving it all your best through your clothes and attitude.
