One of the girls in my cohort owns a pink power suit, and she is planning on wearing it to the plethora of job fairs we’ll all be attending over the next few months. Do I need to buy a suit? I have a very nice grey suit that was tailored for me for a college play set in the 1950s. It has become my de-facto Miss Nancy Novak suit. The skirt is very, very, very tight. And it has some largish pink buttons- great on stage, not as great in person. What I’m saying is that I would look like a high class trollop strutting around the convention center in it- not at all the sexless old maid I ought to present. So what should I wear? The lady who came to put the fear of god in us (by informing us of the close deadlines, large applicant pool, and fickle administrators) told us to dress like “Nordstrom sales associates.” Uh huh. Which department? Makeup? Should I wear a white smock and beige slacks with stilettos? Or maybe I should look to Brass Plum for inspiration. I could wear fluffy sheepskin boots with white leggings and a gold lame tunic. Appropriate? Maybe not.
So, maybe a suit. They keep saying you can’t overdress for an interview, but you can certainly underdress. They also say you should wear what you’d wear to parent/teacher conferences. And if your a man you should definitely wear a tie. But not necessarily jacket. Can I get away with a nice sweater/skirt combo? Anyone who has interviewed for a real job want to help me out? European?
Help!
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Definitely the skirtsuit, definitely.
I wore my skirtsuit to the job fair, as did practically everyone else. Can you make your fabulous suit look a little more matronly with a blah-type blouse? Or perhaps you could give it a button-makeover?
My friend got a really nice skirtsuit at Target, complete with a looow Target pricetag.
Hope that helped.
You can’t go wrong with a suit, BUT you should be comfortable (as in you feel good and confident) when you’re wearing it. If you’re going to feel hopelessly silly in a suit, wear a nive outfit: dress pants or skirt, dress shirt or tailored sweater, and pearls or something would be fine, too. As someone who interviewed at a lot of places, I found a suit didn’t help or hinder. All the jobs I got I got wearing nice, non-suit outfits. And if you’re a non-suit person, be who you are. You probably don’t want to work at a place that highly values suits anyway.
er, that’s “nice outfit.”
o dear.good luck.i can’t help….
Willow, I’ve been on a number of interview committees at our elementary school (in the CA foothills), and I can’t recall anyone’s clothing choice being an issue. As long as you’re in “appropriate” teacher clothes for the culture at that school, you should be fine. (Maybe think of what you would wear to “Back to School Night”, or whenever you first meet the parents…) \.
E-mail me if you want more specific ideas on what to say during an interview.
Momcat (k8rob@teacher.com)
Thanks, everyone!
Momcat, I will definitely be in touch when it gets closer to interview time! Can I email you my resume for feedback?
I love blog reading moms!
Target could definitely be the way to go for a fancy looking little jacket or skirt… or you could do the buy it, hide the tags, and return it thing. Do people actually do that, or is it just in movies? One way or the other -you clean up real nice, so I’m sure any outfit you put together will look lovely.
Yes, of course you can send me a copy (though I don’t pretend to be an expert.) And if you need any mom references, check with Freddy.