Definately NOT getting the Job

[RecoveringKinkoid]

It depends on the job how nicely you dress for the interview, but there's no excuse for showing up dressed like a thug or a skank. I really think some of these kids just don't understand how it works. Maybe nobody's taught them. We saw that at Kinko's.

I usually wear a nice skirt and top ( business casual), and heels no more than 1" or 2" for most jobs.

To get the job at public television, I wore nice khaki pants, a button down blouse, and a nice blazer. Wore my hair back. ( I knew the job entailed unloaded trucks and building sets.)

To get my current job (graphic artist at professional company) I wore a slick black suit, a silk blouse, wore hair up, and carried a portfolio.

I once interviewed for a job in a commercial film processing lab where I overdressed, not knowing what exactly the type of environment I was getting into. I was getting into a truck unloaded, chemical mixing, small nasty lab with a couple of good old boys sleeping in it. I wore the generic job get-up #1. I ended up being forced to take off my shoes and prove I could lift a fifty pound crate of chemistry before they would hire me. Amazingly, they DID hire me.

I guess the rule of thumb is more or less that you should dress one better than the job actually requires, although showing up in a clean, pressed shirt and a pair of clean, new-looking jeans for a job interview at a place like Best Buy (or Kinko's) should be fine (as I think someone mentioned they dressed for a job interview.).

EDIT: I'd like to add this: I have temped. I showed up at the temp agency for orientation wearing a black blazer, a silk shirt, and a longish black pencil skirt. I wore my hair up, and wore spectacles. Carried a briefcase full of notepads, pencils, and whatnot. Basically, I looked like Mary Freaking Poppins.

I'm all about using costuming to influence what sorts of person you want to appear as.

Anyway, here I was dressed like this in a crowd of slobs, skanks, and basically otherwise careless, casually dressed people. They fell all over themselves to place me. I was placed IMMEDIATELY, and if I hadn't escaped when I did, about a month later, I would have found myself staring down the barrel of permanent employment at a company I couldn't stand. I got paid well, treated well, and given lots of perks. I really do think it was because I was viewed as a more valuable than average commodity by the temp agency. If they place you with a company that likes you enough to hire you, they get a nice payment. So since I was the most professional horse in their stable, they saw $$$ when they looked at me.

Certainly something to think about.

[Becks]

While I didn't dress my best for most of my various job interviews, I at least made it a point to wear nice black pants, nice sweater or shirt (in season) and nice shoes.

Oddly enough, if I remember correctly, when I had my "interview" with the HR department where I'm working now, I was wearing jeans, t-shirt and a flannel. I'd only gone in with the fiance to get some snacks. He took me up there, I filled out an application, had my "interview" not more than half an hour later and was hired.

[trunks2k]

I was in gamestop with my fiance and it was getting a bit busy. We got his game and were waiting for the cashier to cash us out.
There was this girl who asked for an application. If this girl knew anything about getting a job she wouldn't have been wearing something you'd wear if you worked at Hooters.

Are you kidding? Gamestop, in my experience, is staffed mostly by geeky teenage boys. Dressing like that is almost gaurunteed to get you a job

As for dressing nicely, it seems like a given to me. Beyond my first job, which was working as a cashier at a grocery store, every interview I went to, I dressed in a suit or wore a sports jacket.

Although I did do an interview once when I was wearing only my boxers. But that was because it was an unexpected. I had woken up to answer the phone only to find out that the person calling me was doing a phone interview for a tech support position. I did pretty well for having an entirely unexpected interview - I got the job.

[Captain Trips]

Rule of thumb, applies to more than attire:

Show up for the interview as if you were ready to start the job then and there. Dress like you would while working there (I agree with the "one notch above" concept.) Don't come in with a bunch of friends or your mother. Don't put the interview on hold to answer your phone. Don't do ANYTHING other than show that all you are interested in at the time is to get the job and show that you can do it well.

Do: dress right.
Do: go alone (unless it's a group interview.)
Do: turn off the cell phone.
Do: take the attitude "I can do this." And "You won't regret hiring me."
Do: be respectful.
Do: be ready to start that day (unless it's understood that you have to give notice where you are working, which also impresses future employers -- it shows that you respect your current employer, whoever that is at the time. They know if you respect the company you're leaving, you'll respect the one you're coming into.)

Seems to me this is all common sense, but we all know how common THAT is!

[RentalRacer]

Yes, always always always if you are currently employed, tell your potential new job that you have to give a 2 week notice. Why? Because I will not hire you if you tell me you will quit there on the spot and come work for me. That tells me as a MGR that when something better than my place comes along you will quit on the spot with me, leaving me high and dry.
If an employer is so desperate for help that they need you to start right away or they can't offer you a position, be leary....there is usually a reason why they are so shorthanded.

[Kiwi]

for the gallery interview I wore

brown dress pants
cranberry slingbacks
emerald top
brown merino wool sweater tied around my neck

I walked into the interview room and the panel were all in jeans and varying degree of casual tops..... Im still getting used to what "small town dress causual means"

jeans !!!!....as long as they have no rips!

ALL of my part time job were applied for in my school uniform....but thats the norm from my part of the country for highschool kids!

[ditchdj]

there is usually a reason why they are so shorthanded.

Yeah and if the said employer appears to have a sky-high turnover rate, RUN.

[myswtghst]

In response to all the posts above about dressing for an interview--even though most of the jobs I've had, I've been lucky enough to know a manager/supervisor/etc when I went in, and knowing that I pretty much had the job, I still always dress up a bit for interviews. Even now, I applied for a higher position at my current job, and I still dressed "up" for my interview. We're "business casual" which has gradually become jeans and nice-ish tops, including track jackets and non-trashy t-shirts, but I wore black dress pants, nice shoes and a pretty sweater with jewelry, nice tied back hair and minimal makeup for my interview. (On a given day, I wear only the 5 hoops in my ears, jeans, boots/Converse and a t-shirt with a track jacket/blazer over it, and sometimes kinda heavy eye makeup.)

It's the principal of the thing--at a job interview, you should be trying to impress your potential employer, and that includes dressing well, possibly better than you normally would. You want to make the best possible impression at the start. Seems like common sense to me, but apparently not.

[Gurndigarn]

Seems like common sense to me, but apparently not.

"Common sense isn't common."

[myswtghst]

Sadly, I have to agree with you.

[Arcade Man D]

I always dress at least nice for even the application stage. Yes, in the summer when I'm doing applications I wear shorts. Up here, you'll die in pants in the summer.

Application stage: Polo shirt, freshly cleaned Hawaiian-print shirt, or a mock turtleneck and shorts/pants depending on the weather.

Interview: Shirt and tie, with tie tack, slacks, and dress shoes. The only jewelry I ever wear to an interview is a watch, and my cross necklace ((granted, that's the only jewelry I ever wear anyway ^_^ ))



But as far as people who apply for jobs at the arcade? They seem to believe that dressing up is optional. Mainly women dressed like skanks, and guys dressed like thugs.

[Gurndigarn]

But as far as people who apply for jobs at the arcade? They seem to believe that dressing up is optional. Mainly women dressed like skanks, and guys dressed like thugs.

"Why do you want to work here?"
"Because I love video games, man."
...IE, you'll play them when you're supposed to be working. Next!

"So, what's your favorite game here?"
"Ultrakill BattleMatch Deluxe 2 Extra Gore Edition."
You may have missed the fifteen ticket-spitters in the front of the arcade, but I know where our bread and butter is and what you're likely to act like while here. Next!

"So, why should I hire you?"
"Because I'm really good at being an ass man!"
"... ass man?"
"Yeah, the guy who pushes the employees around so you can be the good man."
Next!

"Let's see, last three jobs, you did four to six months at each. Reason for leaving... conflicts with management. At all three. Can you tell me about that?"
Why didn't I catch that before calling her up? Next!

"Do you have reliable transportation to work?"
"Well, my sister's boyfriend should be able to get me here most days."
'Should'? Just how desperate am I right now?

[Broomjockey]

"So, what's your favorite game here?"
"Ultrakill BattleMatch Deluxe 2 Extra Gore Edition."
You may have missed the fifteen ticket-spitters in the front of the arcade, but I know where our bread and butter is and what you're likely to act like while here. Next!

I loved all the questions, and got them all except this one. Sort of. From what I get, you're saying ticket spitters make you the money, but you lose me after that.

[Gurndigarn]

I loved all the questions, and got them all except this one. Sort of. From what I get, you're saying ticket spitters make you the money, but you lose me after that.

Ticket spi... er, redemption games do make a fair chunk of money. Exact percentages depends on location (Chuck E. Cheese, essentially all of it; Latest Hot Club Spot, relatively small percentage (unless the prizes you're offering include bongs and condoms— but that's a story for another day)). But— to give proper service to them, you need to be visible. The games take more maintenance; the redemption area needs to have someone in it when they're ready to cash out; and you just need a more smiles-and-rainbows attitude (frequently in short supply from serious gamers) when talking with them.

To make a long (and deleted) ramble short, I don't want to hire serious game players. Casual gamers, fine. Even fairly regular ones. But the ones who were addicted essentially never worked out. The "better" choices usually spent too much time being distracted and not paying enough attention to the whole arcade. And the "worse" choices realized that they had the game keys...