A fine morning to the patrons of our distinguished weblogging establishment. Today’s topic of point and counterpoint…
Oh, the heck with formal.
As y’alls knows, I’m a looking to get me a job! For pay!
And many of the job openings I’ve seen have a dress code of Business Casual. Right now, my dress code is a decent button-up shirt or polo, non-holed jeans, and OK shoes that I hope no one has noticed that I’ve been wearing for the last 6 years (along with the occasional flip-flop).
So, if I want to succeed at one of these potential jobs, I’ll need to snazz it up a little bit.
I wondered what Business Casual actually meant. Instead of asking a stylish friend or consulting the local mens’ fashion shop, I of course turned to Wikipedia. Wiki says:
“capris/long shorts are acceptable as casual dress and regular dress if they are “tailored” and of a dress pant material (usually not denim or heavy cotton) or a tennis shirt and trousers”
Fortunately, before I hit the Place Order button on the Ann Taylor website, I noticed the mens’ definition:
“a combination of collared shirt (such as a tennis shirt or dress shirt) and cotton trousers (such as khakis) with a belt, shoes (such as loafers) with socks are generally acceptable.”
That sounds OK, I guess. Not as cool as decent shirt and jeans. And to top it off, look who they use as the poster child of Business Casual.
Does this mean I need to get Bill’s haircut, too? And to really drive it home, Wiki says that
“there is no generally accepted definition of business casual wear; its interpretation differs widely among organizations and is often a cause of confusion.”
Thanks a lot. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of khakis, loafers, or tucking my shirt in.
I think a shirt, pants, and jacket will be fine. Dressy enough for lunch with the CEO (unlikely), casual enough for licking thousands of envelopes shut (more likely). And if it works for this guy, it’ll work for me!
(photo: blind_justice)
So your goal is to find an appropriate blend of Fabio and Bill Gates…
Ouch.
Biz casual for me is dress pants and shoes and a polo type shirt. I don’t tuck it in though.
I get the shirts that are nice flat on the bottom so I don’t have to tuck it in. Don’t really like that.
Fortunately, for summertime, we’ve got jeans. It would be nice if it stayed that way.
just be sure not to get cought wearing the flip flops, K.
coming from teaching at a high school the past year, i definitely played the business casual down to casual for business. but nobody seemed to mind. mostly because i did it like i was proud of it and no one asks questions.
p.s. thanks for the love……temporary internet rants are a strange necessity of our technology lives.
p.p.s. to further our web connections….thought you and cool mom might like to see a cool story. the dallas morning news came out and did a story on the farm i live on. http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/home/gardening/stories/071108dnentorganicfarming.42ae983.html
I don’t know what types of jobs you’re applying for, but I’ve always heard that you should dress for the type of job you WANT, not the type of job you HAVE.
And, I always wear a suit to interview. No matter what I’d be wearing once I get the job. But I think that varies by industry. I’m in PR, so even at the places where I know I’ll be wearing jeans (an agency) or biz cas (everywhere else), it’s pretty much mandatory for me to “suit up” to make the right impression.
(Although the one time I interviewed while I was pregnant, I just did nice pants and nice button up maternity shirt. Luckily, the interviewer understand my lack of suit to fit my 7-month-prego body!)
To me business casual is khaki pant or any color “dockers” type…with a polo shirt is fine…
but…for the the interview I always wear a tie…
(closed-toed shoes)…just get some polish from publix…
btw…this is coming from a t-shirt, shorts & flip flops guy…
Matt
(i belong to Hip Mama)
p.s. Even though I wear a tie to the interview…I wouldn’t do a jacket, personally.
Good Luck
Matt