Should I invest in a taylor made suit?

Hmm. Yes for the TV interview only. Rest of the time he wears stuff which would cost a large part of my monthly salary !!!

 

I buy my work suits from Matalan, they're cheap and cheerful, but two jackets and three pairs of trousers last a year. They look ok too. For best I have the ubiquitous M+S suit

 

Double-cuff shirts are a complete waste of time. You will not be rejected at interview for wearing a normal shirt.

 

£150 is a fair budget for a complete outfit. As I said before the tie is the thing people notice, make sure its for the right reason. A classic style suit is a must ask yourasel if it will work for wedings, funerals if it does thats the one. If your slightly unsure, dont buy it, you need to be comfortable in it (I don't just mean the fit). Shoes and socks again cleaned per interview. Avoid paterned shirts, that clash with your tie or suit.

Get yourself over to the designer outlet in Castleford, there is a shop there that have suits, ties, shirts and shoes all in your price range, I got a rather nice gucci tie for about £15-20 rather than the £65-95 at harvey nick's. 99.99% of interviewers wont tell the difference between a £100 suit and a £1000 one, but will notice if your tie isn't silk. Learn how to tie a nice knot rather than a schoolboy wrap round push through afair, if unsure ask an assistant only if theirs is well tied though.

One point worth making is when you get back home, take it off imediately, and put it on its hanger. No making cuppas or slouching around in it, save the shoes just for interviews until you get a job. Basicaly keep your new suit new, you will look and feel better for it.

 

for farmers....

 

As someone who doesn't own a suit and who has a pathological hatred of ties, I find this a very amusing thread. I usually wear a tie only for hearings at the European Patent Office, but that's my "battle flag", the tie of the Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia. Thankfully in my business, people are more interested in whether you can deliver the goods they want, rather than what you wear. Thankfully also, I work in industry - things are different in the private profession, where apparently a snappy suit to con the clients is de rigeur.

P.S. Patent Office examiners rival techy nerds for the prize of Most Scruffy Gits.

 

I'm with Tones - I've never owned a suit because there's nowt worse than looking like every other bugger Don't want to be beholden to The Man!
I've borrowed a suit from a m8 on the 2 occasions I've needed one for an interview, which certainly saves money..
And as for weddings and funerals, I wear bike leathers!
Still, for my upcoming wedding I've had a kilt and clansman jacket made - that way I can wear it afterwards to cement my reputation as "that there strange 'un up on th' 'ill"

 

I too am with Tones on this one. I do not own a tie and only recently bought a casual sort of suit to attend a wedding (but no tie). And I hate the "penguin look". But if you really have to, do it, I for one would not hire a scruffy git.

 

A tailor made suit is too expensive.

However a cheap suit is cheap. I recommend a Ted Baker Endurance 2 suit available from John Lewis. These are a good suit nice cloth and come ready for adjustment. Expect to pay around the £300 mark, get black or chracoal it will do for many things then.

As for shirts, double cuffs should only be worn by people with experience and confidence. I don't mean this rudely (I would not wear a double cuff) just that if you are young you Will give the wrong impression. Again a nice clean shirt, Stripes have been quite popular this year with Ted baker and others. Do Not Get a ben sherman shirt they are shite and the name is totally wrong for an interview. Equally don't purchase any shirt that feels the need to put a logo on your breast this look really stupid in an interview.

Shoes should be low key shiney black leather, do not plumb for bulky numbers.

Swallow any sense of pride or rebellion, a tie must be worn to an interview, you will not come over as a cool laid back type if you don't wear one, all that will be observed is that you don't have a tie. Remember an interviewer will have made a decision about who you are within the first minute. Make it count!

 

Of course for a deeply technical IT role it might be wise to follow the existing IT dress conventions so as not to come across as someone out of touch with the profession:

suits can be found for less than a ton that can be put through a washing machine
white shirt with shiny white stripes on it
single cuffs and a nice breast pocket (maybe put a data pen in there..)
demonstrate your GSOH with a Simpsons tie and socks
mobile phone in a belt holster. arrange for an amusing Frog ring tone to go off in your interview to show that you are popular
shoes should be of the Clarkes 'cornish pasty' variety. Failing that, black bowling shoes with a suit are always a good bet.
rucksack; not a custom made laptop carrier - get a floppy, sporty one from JJB

Aim for an overall polyester count just sufficient to make screens flicker with the static as you walk past - this is a masonic sign that you are truly part of the IT world

 

perhaps a pocket protector in the shirt pocket... and the obligatory bit of tape across the bridge of the regulation nhs specs...

 

Sticking plaster, come on!

 

You been spying on me again?

 

...and is that Homer's face I can see covering your ankles?

 

The interview rules are:

1. Do not wear a School/University/College/any other organisational tie.

2. Do not wear any form of jewellery, except for a steel Rolex watch.

3. Do not mix spots and stripes (shirt & tie).

4. Definitely do not wear a double-cuff shirt with cufflinks. Nor a tiepin of any kind, nor a cravat, nor a hankerchief in the top pocket. Any of these things will make you appear as if you either have something to hide, or were born in the 1930s.

 

Add waistcoat/pocketwatch to #4...

 

agree with the cravat, tie pin and handkerchief, but only doctors and farmers avoid double cuffs....

 

Practice that Masonic handshake!

 

One of the Physicians at Guy's used to wear a double-cuff shirt with a hankerchief sticking out of one of the cuffs. Looked a right tool.

 

Chaps

I took early retirement last year but found consultancy a lucrative hobby to indulge in. I worked in the car industry on sourcing from Asia and also in F1 racing for a few months but consultancy is damned hard work and at my age, I do not see the need to graft for 70 hours a week which was what I was doing.

I gave myself a break for 5 months and spread my name around during March.

I was interviewed for 3 jobs in supply chain management and was offered all 3 jobs. Obviously experience has its part but I am convinced that the interviewers have made up their minds about you in the first couple of minutes and someone with a confident personality who is well dressed always comes across well.

Obviously you have to manipulate the interview, you do not want to be seen begging for a job but rather that they should be doing their best to get your services.

That is all the easier if you look smart and a good well cut suit can make even a 56 yr old man with a pauch look dynamic and go getting.

AT has to speculate to accumalate.

If he wants to apply for low paid jobs, then a M&S suit and a single cuff shirt will be fine. If he wants a good high paid job then his first challenge is to look smarter than the competition who will themselves be looking good.

Mr AT, the ball is now in your court.

Regards

Mick