“Should It Matter?“: Recruiter Raises A Concern After A Candidate Didn’t Make It Through In Part Because Of What They Were Wearing
Interview With Author
“Dress for success” is a widely popular message that encourages employees to take care of their attire. Now, without a doubt, clothes make a strong visual statement and might even get you an extra client or two – however, is it still crucial to dress in business wear for interviews?
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, instead of the usual face-to-face procedure, employment has turned to virtual team meetings, video conferences and Zoom interviews.
Those who get the pleasure of working from home don’t wake up a couple of hours prior to their shift just to compose themselves and, perhaps, choose a more fitting outfit. I mean, let’s face it, most of us don’t even have our pants on.
Each company has its own policy for clothing – however, is it important to dress smart for Zoom interviews?
Image credits: g_u (not the actual photo)
“What to wear?!” – a LinkedIn user and recruitment specialist took it to the platform to share a concern regarding virtual interviews and dress code.
The woman wondered whether recruiters are responsible for reminding job-seeking folk to dress appropriately after she revealed how one of her candidates didn’t move forward because external clients didn’t appreciate them wearing a hoodie.
Recruiter wrote a LinkedIn post that stated how an interviewee didn’t move forward because the client didn’t like their casual attire
Image credits: Louise Ogilvy
Bored Panda has managed to reach out to the author; Louise started working as a recruitment consultant at the age of 24 when she set up her first recruitment agency. For 18 years, the woman worked in what they call the “rec to rec” sector, which is focused on placing recruitment consultants with other recruitment agency clients.
Image credits: Louise Ogilvy
The thing is, two of their candidates were put forward to interview with two external hiring clients. Louise said that neither candidate made it through the first stage – however, a comment was made in which the hiring managers said that one of the applicants was “unprofessional” in their demeanor, in part because they were wearing a hoodie.
Louise then added: “the post was a question to other recruiters. Our job as a recruiter is to help candidates prepare for interviews as much as we can. We point them in the right direction regarding websites to review potential questions to think about, but should we also be advising them to think about what they wear?
Image credits: Louise Ogilvy
We also asked the author whether she thinks that appearance affects work performance, to which Louise said: “absolutely not. In fact, I don’t even use video screening myself when I am registering candidates because it doesn’t even feature into my criteria. However, if a hiring company has a dress code or if the role is client facing, surely the client can have expectations on what is considered professional attire. As recruiters, should we be asking this information and ensuring that we share with candidates or do we assume that candidates will seek out this information themselves?”
Image credits: Louise Ogilvy
“It is widely accepted that in tech, people wear what they want. This is an assumption I too have held for the last 3 years. My point was, it’s not about what I think, or the candidate thinks, but if you are applying for a role in a company where there is an expectation, is it not our job as a recruiter to make the candidate aware? I wear hoodies all day when I am working from home, but if I am jumping on a call with a client, I will change my top, yes. Why? It makes me feel that I have made an effort to get ready to be online, just as I would have done if I was driving to meet a client face to face.”
Moreover, a great deal of LinkedIn users have, in fact, misunderstood the context of the post and thought that it was Louise who was against casual wear during online interviews. However, once it went viral, the woman edited it to debunk the criticism.
Daniel Space, an HR content creator, also made a TikTok video in regards to this post
Image credits: dan_from_hr
Daniel Space has worked in HR as a business partner for almost 20 years and he has worked for companies like Electronic Arts, WebMD and Spotify.
Bored Panda also managed to contact Daniel and he thought that Louise’s post was really representative of the fact that we have changed; that the way that we used to job search and the way that we view the job search – pre-imposed pandemic – are two very different things. Given how comfortable we are within the span of our home, the man thinks that it’s really important to consider why we’re considering professional dress to be crucial.
Image credits: dan_from_hr
We asked Daniel the same question, “do you think appearance affects work performance?”, to which he said: “I personally do not think dress impacts work performance but I do think that that’s something each person has to decide for themselves. I know that there are people that do prefer to get dressed up even if it’s working from home because it gives the illusion of productivity, and I know that there are others who are fine to not dress up formally and just to be more comfortable because they feel more productive then. My thought process is to 1. – know who you are 2. – be with a company that can accept that.”
Image credits: dan_from_hr
Lastly, we wondered whether there’s something else that Daniel would like the readers to know and the content creator responded with: “my big thing that I want all the readers to know is that we’re still in an extraordinarily hot job market but we’re starting to see the signs of it cooling down so there’s still tons of opportunity; there’re a lot of great ways to find them but this is the time to also start thinking about stabilizing.”
Image credits: Dustin Moore (not the actual photo)
Whether you agree that dressing smart is essential for both face-to-face and virtual interviews or not, appropriate attire is always welcomed. Perhaps having exceptionally strict workwear, nowadays, is not as important in many companies – though it is still in your best interest to match your job’s culture.
What do you think about it?
You can watch the video here:
@dan_from_hr Thoughts? #Jobsearch #linkedin #jobsearchhelp #getpaid #hireme #openroles #gethiredjobsearchtips #jobsearchtiktok #danfromhr #danfromhrtiktok ♬ original sound – Dan.from.HR
The author of the post has clarified her intentions under Daniel’s video
Fellow TikTok users shared their thoughts and opinions
149Kviews
Share on Facebook
Regardless of what you would wear doing the actual job, the interview is an official business meeting, and a lot of employers will expect you to dress up. If it turns out it's an employer who wouldn't mind you casually dressed in the interview, they are not going to think any less of you for dressing up. But of it is a place where they are expecting you to wear business wear for the interview and you don't, you are just stacking the odds against yourself. You don't know which way it will go beforehand, so why not give yourself the best chance of getting the job
That's what I was taught. People who interviewed for even lower paying jobs dressed for the interview. The prevailing thought was "dress for the job you want, not the job you have." HOWEVER, I was in a financial services career. I think dress codes are more casual now and I wonder if interviewing for a tech job at Google is different or construction. It's really a workers market now and the industries need to consider changing some hard fast rules.
Load More Replies...
I'm just gonna give this example from someone I knew. He walked on to a construction site, in a nice pant suit asking for a job in construction. He got an interview right then and there. It's a messy, dirty job. No place to wear a suit. All he was asked was when he was ready to start. This guy brought steel-toed boots and work clothes with him so he was prepared to start that day. That stuck with him to this day, that it's always important to dress up no matter what the job is. It's about showing respect, dignity and professionalism. Unless you own an established, wealthy business.
Years back, I interviewed two people because I was leaving my job. They dressed up - the office was more casual. I appreciated the effort.
Load More Replies...
I was always told you wear one level above what is expected in the actual job for an interview. Construction work? Wear a shirt. Office job? Wear a suit. Hotel receptionist? Suit and natural coloured hair neatly tied back. Does it matter? Yes, because even the most laidback place has a minimum dress code (except fully remote when not in meetings, and for meetings office dress code would apply) for safety if nothing else.
Regardless of what you would wear doing the actual job, the interview is an official business meeting, and a lot of employers will expect you to dress up. If it turns out it's an employer who wouldn't mind you casually dressed in the interview, they are not going to think any less of you for dressing up. But of it is a place where they are expecting you to wear business wear for the interview and you don't, you are just stacking the odds against yourself. You don't know which way it will go beforehand, so why not give yourself the best chance of getting the job
That's what I was taught. People who interviewed for even lower paying jobs dressed for the interview. The prevailing thought was "dress for the job you want, not the job you have." HOWEVER, I was in a financial services career. I think dress codes are more casual now and I wonder if interviewing for a tech job at Google is different or construction. It's really a workers market now and the industries need to consider changing some hard fast rules.
Load More Replies... I'm just gonna give this example from someone I knew. He walked on to a construction site, in a nice pant suit asking for a job in construction. He got an interview right then and there. It's a messy, dirty job. No place to wear a suit. All he was asked was when he was ready to start. This guy brought steel-toed boots and work clothes with him so he was prepared to start that day. That stuck with him to this day, that it's always important to dress up no matter what the job is. It's about showing respect, dignity and professionalism. Unless you own an established, wealthy business.
Years back, I interviewed two people because I was leaving my job. They dressed up - the office was more casual. I appreciated the effort.
Load More Replies... I was always told you wear one level above what is expected in the actual job for an interview. Construction work? Wear a shirt. Office job? Wear a suit. Hotel receptionist? Suit and natural coloured hair neatly tied back. Does it matter? Yes, because even the most laidback place has a minimum dress code (except fully remote when not in meetings, and for meetings office dress code would apply) for safety if nothing else.
40
43