Jack Straw

You should be cognizant of the possibility that some may want to keep the jacket on to cover up pit stains/puddles.

The Bus

It really depends on the company and position. You mentioned lower level, but is this customer service? Or are you applying for a specific position?

If the company is a bank, law firm, or any other place where everyone wears suits all the time, wear a suit. Not slacks and sportcoat, a suit.

For every other place, you can probably get away with a sportcoat/jacket, tie, and slacks.

At the absolute bare minimum, I would wear slacks and a tie. But this would be for a low level “corporate” position at a place where no one is wearing suits (software firm, garden center, distributor, etc.)

Good luck and hope this helps.

The Bus

Unless this is a very casual mom-and-pop accounting firm ("Jim's Taxes 'n' Stuff"), you need to wear a suit. You can <i>probably</i> get away with wearing just a sportcoat, but to be safe wear a suit. All the other applicants will be wearing a suit.

If you don't really want to buy one off the rack, get dark slacks and a navy sportcoat secondhand and have it altered. That will run you under $100 for everything and will look 90% as good as a new suit.

You can get a full suit from Zara for a pretty good price ($200? less?) and a friend who wears them say they are a very good value.

http://www.zara.com/us/en/man/suits/...3p2908009.html

The Bus

I would say get a gray sportcoat. That will match with black and navy.

The Bus

I apologize on behalf of others who may have treated you rudely. This is a worthwhile topic and its usefulness is lessened with ridicule.

It would not be a bad idea to get a suit now as you will need them over the next decade to attend weddings, (hopefully not) funerals, and other formal events.

Yes. A blazer or a sport coat is not designed with the same fabric as the slacks you wear. So you can have a brown sport coat and wear it with various different kinds of pants. Typically, sport coats will be cut lower than a suit jacket. Sometimes you can tell when people are wearing suit jackets as blazers because it looks a little off.

If you are going the sport coat route, it will be impossible to match black. Additionally, a black suit is typically not seen in interviews. My recommendation would be to buy a new suit. Gray or navy is a good base color. Look for “all weather” or ”four season” wools which means it's not very thin (summer only) or very thick (winter only). If you live somewhere where it's hot all the time, then just get a summer-weight suit.

Right. Don't mix black and brown and typically don't wear brown shoes with black slacks or a black suit (very hard to pull off).

If you really really want to get specific, it should be the same tone/leather in both the shoes and the belt. This makes matching blacks much easier, as browns have various hues and shades.

Accounting is a detail oriented, conservative, conscientious profession. If I were hiring an accountant, I would probably select the most “buttoned-up” one that I meet, all other things equal.

It doesn't sound like you're interviewing at a Big Four firm. If that was the case, I would suggest you directly to your nearest good men's store and spend money on a good suit.

The only situation where I can see you being OK with wearing a sportcoat is if the office is <i>extremely</i> casual: khakis and polos, with maybe the owner wearing a jacket. Is that the case? If so you might be able to get away with a sportcoat.

You can never be overdressed in a good suit.

The Bus

Then it is imperative for you to get a good suit that fits. You are fighting against the (unfortunate but real) viewpoint that you may not be as good as the other candidates. Prove them wrong.

The Bus

Interview is jacket and tie unless you are in high school interviewing for a service job. At an accounting firm, even high school interns (who are not nephews of the owner) are likely to have to come in and interview in a suit and tie. That's what I did for internships when I was 18.

Aside from interviews (where a jacket and tie is what you need), I would say jacket-no-tie looks more professional than tie-no-jacket.

Tie-no-jacket makes me think of an appliance salesperson.

<img src="http://www.movpins.com/big/MV5BMjEwOTE1MDA5MV5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjUwMzIyMw/still-of-nick-frost-and-simon-pegg-in-shaun-of-the-dead-(2004)-large-picture.jpg" width=500>

There's nothing wrong with that, of course. But that's not the skillset needed at an accounting firm.

The Bus

We have worked with a large tech company as a client. They were pretty casual at work (depending on role) but if you were client facing or meeting executives, they asked you to wear a jacket. No tie was needed.

Hokeyboy

Of course, which is why we give them the option

rocket1312

A sport coat/jacket is a jacket that is not meant to match the pants the way a suit does. Often times the buttons will be a different color than the fabric in order to differentiate it from a suit jacket which traditionally has buttons which match the color of the fabric.

When someone refers to a blazer, they are usually referring to solid color jackets (as opposed to sport coats which usually have some sort of pattern) with metal buttons like they would wear at a prep school or something.

Black pants are tough to match to a sport coat. A grey jacket would probably be the best option if you were to go that route. Charcoal/grey pants are much more versatile when pairing with a sport coat.

Yes, and with black pants the easiest option is to go with a black belt and shoes.

kgrogers1979

No, I am trying my best to stay away from public accounting. I don't think I would like public accounting at all. My interview is for a position at a corporate office for a convenience store chain.

Thanks for all the help though. I'm really ignorant when it comes to fashion. I had no idea suit jackets, sports jackets, and blazers were different things. I thought they were just synonyms for the same thing.

Tomorrow I think I will go to Goodwill and see if they have anything in my size. I doubt they do, but who knows. I don't know of any other thrift stores near me. I live in a relatively small city that doesn't have much of anything nearby. If Goodwill doesn't have anything, I will go to the mall and see what the department stores there have. If they don't have anything in my size and price range, then I will try Wal-Mart. If that still fails, then I will go jacketless and hope for the best because I don't know what else I could do.

The Bus

I would say you will probably be OK with a suit and jacket, considering this is a small town. I am assuming people in the corporate office don't wear suits to work.

Abob Teff

Back to this not knowing what the job is ... WTF?

I think you misunderstood. This is not an accounting job, it is a counting position ...


No matter what you wear, make sure you pee in the interviewer's butt.

PhantomStranger

Corporate accounting will almost certainly entail wearing a full suit and tie unless this is a very chill, laid-back company.

kgrogers1979

The interviewer is a dude, so no thanks.


You mean on the job? It seems like the majority of non-public jobs don't require full suit on the job anymore.

Hokeyboy

You'd actually be quite surprised at how many offices require business formal these days, while business casual is still generally the norm. When I worked as a corporate IT vendor, my hard-and-fast rule was to dress 1 step above the client. Most of my clients were either full business attire or dress shirt and tie, and they were all private sector (investment and legal firms, mostly).

My dry-cleaning bill went through the roof, but at least it was a legitimate business expense.

kgrogers1979

Dress shirt and tie? But many people here are saying that is very informal, that it is less formal than a jacket and no tie.

You mention investment and legal firms, and those are definitely prestigious, so I imagine they would be formal. Remember though I said I was applying at a convenience store chain. I really really doubt they are going to be anywhere near as formal, but maybe I am wrong.

wendersfan

I wear a suit at work four days a week, although it's in no way required. I simply prefer to present the most professional appearance I can.

FWIW, "formal" wear is a tuxedo. A suit is business wear.

kgrogers1979

True, but nobody wears a tuxedo to an interview except these guys:

NSFW language

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7FOk4bCAQhc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

drc

I'm a Controller for a mid-sized privately held company, so I can offer some insight into your specific situation. Short answer, wear a suit. If the interview is for a degreed accountant position, you should always wear a suit (unless explicitly stated otherwise by the company). You might be able to get away with just a shirt and tie if it's an A/P or clerk level position, but why risk it? It wouldn't bother me personally, but I'd wager I'm on the more laid back end of that spectrum. What would bother me is an interviewee not familiar with the job description of the position. You need to be selling yourself as a good fit for the position. How do you expect to do that if you don't know what the position is? You need to find that out or it won't matter what you wear.

Flashback

So, what happened today? Did you find something?

The Bus

Finance, insurance, legal: these are still suit industries.

The Bus

Even if there is no position and he's just coming in to introduce himself / network, he needs to know what possible positions there are (which is easy to check through LinkedIn + that company or Glassdoor + that company). Then he can sell himself on something working on that team, for example.

Hokeyboy

The latter, generally yes. The former two, nowhere near all of them. The majority were/are business casual.

Abob Teff

If choosing a legal suit, don't forget the briefs!

Sorry, I kind of gave up on this thread. The OP doesn't want to grow up and is looking for affirmation. Another poster insists ties are physically uncomfortable due to his own mental block.

There is some damned good advice here though. Good job Otters.