When we introduced this “roundtable” series to you last month, we received this reader comment urging us to open up a relevant academia/style question for discussion:
How about a brown bag about proper attire for an on campus T-T job interview? (They’re coming up in the next three months!)
one key question: wedding ring on, or off?
T-T interviews, for those of you not campus situated, are “tenure track” interviews, offering the most coveted of all academic jobs to those embarking on the job market. So, naturally, a key question is What To Wear? How to best present oneself to these potential employers?
Our approach would be to mix and match suit separates and ‘dressier’ pieces to create a look that is simultaneously professional and still personal and representative of our style personalities. As for the wedding ring question…we’ve already put in our two cents when this topic surfaced a while ago, but we would happily reopen this ever present dilemma for discussion.
So we open the forum to the rest of you, in true brown bag fashion, to engage in a dialogue what will hopefully provide our readers with many great ideas. And good luck to all of you interviewing this fall!
Hello everybody!
I have a very important oral exam in december. After much looking, I finally purchased a classic(and boring)black suit, which I will wear with a purple shirt with some ruffles (to cheer it up a little bit) and my black coat and boots, because Madrid is going to be frozen by that time.
The examiners are mostly men of age so I want to look formal and elegant, in order to make a good impression. I do believe this is a stage that I have to go through, after which, if I get the post, I will be able to dress as I want.
con cariño, teresa.
PS: could you please explain me the meaning of the “true brown bag fashion” expression? I have never heard it before. Thank you in advance.
I’m certain that our recommendations will vary by field. However, based on my experiences as an interviewee and an interviewer in the humanities, I have to respectfully disagree and insist on a standard suit in a neutral color as essential interview garb. An on-campus interview is the time to represent through your dress that you are polished and professional, not that you are an individual. Ideally, your job talk introduces your intellectual individuality. During an on-campus interview, you may be meeting with everyone from students, future colleagues from many departments, even the university president. Your goal is to be taken seriously as a professor by everyone. That means you should wear a good-quality suit in a neutral color. Avoid anything trendy or revealing in the suit’s cut: no flared pants and no miniskirts. In addition, pack a tailored modest blouse or shirt for each day of the interview, and clean polished shoes or boots.
Pack these items in a carry-on so that lost luggage is not an issue. Travel in professional clothing – most likely you will be picked up at the airport by a colleague. If you have only one suit, wear it on the plane with a different shirt than you will wear for your job talk. Wearing the same suit two days in a row is not a big deal. Wearing scuffed shoes or casual clothing, on the other hand, will be noticed and critically interpreted. Faced with job candidates who wear a blazer and jeans, I have heard faculty members say “He/She just doesn’t seem to take this job very seriously.” Don’t give your future colleagues the chance to rule you out based on fashion.
Finally, invest in a briefcase that is clean and professional. It doesn’t have to look brand-new, it should just look like you’ve thought a little bit about the bag that carries your computer, lectures, student papers, etc. everyday.
You may well be over-dressed compared to your future colleagues. That’s to be expected. They already have their jobs. No one will hold it against you, or think that the suit represents your personality. They may well expect to never see you in a suit after they hire you. But in my field, a suit remains required attire for the interview process.
I would second almost all of Doctoressa’s advice above — when in doubt, playing it conservative is usually a safe bet. I think this is especially pertinent for those of us who seem “fresh” — either because we are young, or we LOOK young, or we are newly-graduated, or otherwise less-experienced than other candidates.
I always wear my wedding ring when I interview. I don’t flaunt the fact that I’m married, but I do try to mention it to someone — my experience has been that interviewers frequently ask illegal questions anyway, so giving them the information they want upfront just avoids an awkward situation for everybody. I also figure it gives the jerks a chance to weed themselves out — if I’m not offered a job due to my marital status, I’m not sure that’s a big loss.
I don’t work in the academic field and honestly I am a SAHM (which opens so many delightful comments about whether or not I work at all) but that aside – What is the big deal about wedding rings? Does wearing a wedding ring somehow reflect on anyone’s intelligence or ability to do their job. Are men taking off their wedding rings when they go to an interview? My personal feelings would be that if I need to disguise a part of me or my life to get the job, what else will I need to compromise to keep the job.
Having posed the original question, I’m appreciative of everyone’s thoughtful responses thus far.
I am admittedly disappointed to learn that the conventional suit is still obligatory. I would have guessed that, particularly in the humanities, a dash of non-conforming hipness would actually win you some points. I attend two major conferences per year–one attended exclusively by humanists, the other by equal parts humanists and social scientists–and find the former to be spilling over with name brand eyewear, edgy haircuts and marc jacobs frocks. Basically, anything *but* suits.
I was thinking of aping some of the J Crew catalog styling for my hypothetical interviews, but now I’m wondering if even that might be too much: http://hometowngirl.typepad.com/.a/6a00e5534dcd7b88330120a58c0d02970c-800wi
Patricia – some committee members might see a wedding ring on a youngish female candidate and expect that she will soon enough be pregnant, requesting maternity leave and offloading her work onto more ‘focused’ and ‘committed’ faculty members. Studies have shown that a wedding ring on a young male candidate actually works in his favor, though, because it suggests to the committee that he is mature and stable (ie, he won’t likely uproot his lovely family next job season, when he discovers how terrible the department is).
There is also the additional concern about the wedding band when one’s partner is also an academic and also on the job market. Some committees might not want the added stress of negotiating a spousal hire, or expending energy on a candidate who might be some other school’s spousal hire.
Doctoressa – thanks for the thoughtful and in-depth comment, it’s really great to get the advice of someone seasoned in this since none of has has gone though this process yet! Maybe we should rethink our approach…?
Huzzahvintage – I (S) agree that it’s somewhat disappointing to find the situation to still be so traditional/conservative but it’s good to know what’s expected. Your JCrew image didn’t strike me as too non-conventional though – it’s a slim cut suit, right? I guess you just can’t get too creative with the other elements of your outfit.
Patricia – what Huzzahvintage said precisely sums up the “problem” of wedding rings and why they seem to be such a big deal when interviewing. I second Sarah Jane’s approach of just being upfront about it, since you’re also interviewing your potential employers and you might as well weed ones ones that would not support all aspects of your life (partner, children) if those constitute an important part of your identity.
The Spanish Lady – A “brown bag” is an informal lunch event when people gather to exchange ideas on something (comes from the idea that you all bring your lunch in a brown paper bag for this event).
To say “In true _____ fashion” means that your doing it in the “true” way something was intended to be done or is typically done. For eg. “In true rockstar fashion, they signed autographs and…” or “in true presidential fashion, (s)he arrived with an entourage of security cars..”
Thus, “in true brown bag fashion” means we’re creating this online “brown bag” event and are running it as closely as it’s live version would be with everyone getting to informally submit his/her viewpoint. Does that make sense?
S.
I was just about to recommend a classic suit over separates, but I see that others have already explained this. Remember that not all suits are dowdy and boring. J Crew, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor all make affordable, lovely, modern-cut suits. You could pair the suit with a blouse or shell with a bit more personality, but I wouldn’t overdo it. Keep your accessories simple as well. One thing I noticed when I was interviewing in 2008 is that the campus visit is not a day in which the interviewee has much control over her/his schedule. There isn’t time to fuss with wardrobe issues (or even check makeup, breathe, or eat!), so I came to appreciate wearing my “suit-uniform.” Now that I have the job, I am more expressive with my clothing.
The Chronicle job-hunting forums are full of good advice on this matter.
Thank you very much for the explanation S! I do understand it now. I am delighted to have joined such an interesting “true brown bag fashion”.
While I work in academia (I’m a project coordinator in a physical activity lab), I’m neither a professor nor do I have a PhD, so I may not be the best source of advice. Our department recently held campus visits and interviews for a tenure track faculty position. One candidate that really stood out to me (and the hiring committee, apparently, because she was ultimately hired) dressed in a suit for her interview and formal presentation to the department but suiting separates during the rest of her visit. Here, campus visits are multi-day events, but I’m not sure if that is the norm.
If so, maybe you could travel in trouser-cut jeans, a blouse or button-down, and a suit jacket. It might also be a good idea to wear the suit jacket instead of packing it in your bag, because it is SO difficult to pack blazers without them wrinkling. For a less-formal day of walking around campus and meeting with students, you could wear suit pants, a blouse, and a cardigan (depending on weather, of course!), and put the blazer back on for any “formal” events like interviews or presentations. That might also allow you to get more mileage out of fewer packet items…and a lighter carry-on.
I think that ultimately, you need to wear whatever you’re going to be most comfortable in. If you’re worried that you’re overdressed or underdressed, you won’t present your best self. Personally, I always err on the side of being overdressed (maybe it’s the Southern upbringing), but if you’re comfortable you will allow your personality and intelligence to outshine your outfit.
I’m in the social sciences. I’ve seen many women wear suits (quite ugly ones, actually) who still got the job. I’ve talked to many professors about this, and I was told to wear some suit separates for the interview – not to be too formal with the full suit. If it is a full suit, then to wear an interesting top under it. And I usually took my jacket off all day until the job talk.
So my advice is to be somewhat conservative, but to go with a partial or modern suit look. I think it is very important to be comfortable! In the end, you don’t want to be hired where you won’t fit in. If people will judge you by your clothes or your ring or your children, maybe you don’t want to work there. I know this is easy for me to say (since I already have a job), but try your best to keep it in mind.
And good luck!!
One more comment: the other advice I’ll give is to dress appropriately for the weather. If you show up at an interview in Maine without a hat, gloves, and a jacket, they will think that you won’t be able to live there and stay there.
As someone on the job market this year (English), suits are the norm for interviews. However, the advice that I have received is that one can (and should) personalize the look through non-distracting accessories (i.e. a scarf, a pin, earrings, the briefcase, glasses… of course, not ALL of these at once, but you get the idea).
Also, I have had very good luck finding a suit that is professional, modern, yet has a few style elements that are creative (a rounded suit collar, for example) that I feel are shnazzy… yet refined.
[...] have to say, before our recent “roundtable” discussion about interview-appropriate wear, I would have worn something pretty similar to this for an interview. Now, I think I would [...]
the best wedding ring that you could possibly give your wife is always a diamond ring*,,
the best wedding ring is always diamond studded, girls really love diamonds that is for sure,,:
Gosh, I wish I would have had that inmforation earlier!