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We frequently have mass interviews at my building for blue-collar positions. None of the applicants wear (or are expected to) suits. However, the successful applicatants wear something like dress shirts and khakis, or a nice skirt and sweater set.
Then there are the not-so-successful applicants. I am amazed at what some of these people come in wearing! Like a track suit. Or baggy jeans with a t-shirt, backpack and pocket chain (while eating a sandwich).
And it's not just there. I went to a group interview for a managment internship position, and in a room full of suits one woman wore a floral dress and crocheted sweater. Ouch. I wasn't surprised when she was eliminated.
I guess that I'm thinking, OK, pantsuits might not score the points as much as skirted suits in some cases, but either way you're at least not screwing up badly!
Once you get the job, it really isn't over, even if the dress code relaxes. You look around here and you can tell who is going places and who isn't. It's not formality, mostly, since the CEO goes around in jeans, but it's conservativeness and covering up your body. The women showing their tummies, wearing shorts, wearing flip flops, or sporting the leopard-print mini aren't about to get promoted. That's fine with some of them - some of the admin assistants love their jobs and don't want to move up - but I don't think all of them realize what they're doing. Guys do have it easier, because how many guys go around in midriff-baring shirts even when they're not working?
And it's not fair, but as a 27-year old perky blue-eyed blonde, I have to dress a lot more conservatively than a woman ten or twenty years older than me to be taken seriously. I'm the "baby" inmy department, and my goal is to make people forget that.
(Well, it was, anyway, but since I'm leaving in a week I'm not too worried about a promotion at the moment!)
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Alpha Xi Delta
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