Should I Wear a Suit for an Interview at a Business Casual Company?

By Sandra Hubert - President/CEO - Elite IT Services, Inc.

"In this day and age of Business Casual, it is still necessary for IT people to wear professional business suits on interviews?" Especially still in the Midwest. The Midwest is still very much Corporate America. Regardless of many firms leaning business casual on Fridays or even 7 days a week, the interview is the first impression and first impressions are are still everything and 'all that.' As a professional skilled individual requesting a professional position, you need to show visually by dress and appearance that you are professional and presentable.

In the IT industry as well as all other industries, packaging is everything, so when you are going on a job interview you are selling yourself as the right person for the job. You need to be dressed clean, appropriate and professional still for IT positions in the Midwest. It gives you confidence and corporations are looking for this professionalism and their impressions are based on your appearance. The same goes for your resume. Just as quickly as an employer may disregard you for misspellings on your resume, so too will they disregard you if you don't have a professional appearance on that first interview, first meeting.

Elite feels so strongly about this topic, it sponsors an organization that assists disadvantaged women and men prepare and dress appropriately for job interviews when re-entering the workforce. We sponsor a nonprofit organization called Connections To Success and one of their programs is called Dress For Success Midwest. This program provides interview appropriate attire to disadvantaged women to select and wear on their interviews as they enter the workforce. These are professional business suits that have been donated. Through Dress For Success Midwest, countless women are changed in mind and spirit by putting on that suit - they feel a sense of dignity and confidence that they did not feel before. They hold their head up high and there is a hope in their eyes they may have not felt before. Through Connections To Success Professional Women's Group and Dress for Success - they are changing the inside (through mind, heart and soul), and the outside (through fashion, style and grace) of an individual.

So - Dress for success on your next interview, take a deep breath, and think of a time when you felt like a champion….Now you are ready to go.