Appropriate Footwear for An Interview

Question

There's a raging debate going on at my house about appropriate footwear for an IT interview. I have an interview, on Thursday, for a SQL/C# developer with the Fraud dept. at a large accounting firm. I was planning on wearing what I have pretty much always worn for an interview: a nice suit, white shirt, subdued tie, and a pair of dress cowboy boots. My spouse and daughter both know that my dress code for nearly every professional job I've ever gotten, is pretty much the same -- including the boots -- with what I just described. Now, however, because I've been out of work for an unfortunately long time (my last contract ended 03/09 -- pretty much coincidental with the bottom falling out of the economy). My wife insists that style standards are fundamentally different on the left side of the Mississippi vs. the right side of the river.

My view is that I've always worn "cowboy" boots; since I was old enough to fit into a real pair. I moved East, as an adult, over 30 years ago, but my dress patterns haven't changed. And in all that time, my dress patterns have never changed.

Now I both really want, and really need, this job. But, is that sufficient reason to change a habit 40 years in the making?

I would really appreciate the thoughts ya'all (little West of Ms. colloquialism, there) might have on this matter.

Thanks.

P.S. If this sort of question is inappropriate for this form, I apologize.

Answer 1

Do you need the job badly enough to work for someone who would make the decision to hire based on footwear?

Answer 2

Definitely wear shoes, if it was a small company it would probably be ok, but a large law firm, be as formal as possible.

Answer 3

I'd recommend regular dress shoes. Regardless of the dress code in the actual workplace, for an interview there are fairly nailed-down guidelines on how you are expected to dress.

Answer 4

Wear the shoes, its not about getting the job, its about getting in trouble with your wife if ya don't.

Answer 5

I doubt that this is the forum for this (there's a career one where your question will probably be moved to). However, I think that while IT is in general dress-casual profession or business-casual, dressing up for an interview is one of the standard "hazings" of our profession. At my current workplace we all wear t-shirts, but folks coming to interview wear full suits. An interview is one day, your job could be for the rest of your career - play the game and wear what is full business in that location.

Personally, I'm very much of a casual dresser. I come from a country where people can get married in khakis. I also like walking around in running shoes. I feel like a mummy in a suit. But you can pull it off. I was surprised to find out that there are men's dress shoes that are actually comfortable enough to walk in all day and don't look like something the ladies from sex and the city would buy. I just never stopped at the shoe department at the local Macy's. :)

Also, if you are not originally from the east coast and are applying for east coast jobs, you might want to avoid anything that marks you as southwestern.

Answer 6

Really, you don't want to stand out for the wrong reasons, you want people to remember how you handled yourself in the interview. Anything distracting from that is bad for you. You may end up talking to nontechnical but very conventional people in management or HR, and they are apt to be distracted by anything unconventional and stick a label on you when discussing you after you're gone.

Answer 7

Wear the shoes. Appearance is everything at this point. The interview is about not-selecting somebody. When there is a "tie", they look for the person who doesn't fit in.

If you have been out of work for a month and you can afford to be out-of-work for another month or two, then wear the boots.

Answer 8

You're going to be interviewing with the "Fraud dept at a large accounting firm".

Is there really any question about what kind of dress code you should apply for the interview?

There are tons of jobs where showing a bit of personality via dress is fine, encouraged even. This isn't one of them.

Answer 9

The safer bet is to wear dress shoes. The fact that you even need to question whether it is appropriate dress wear goes the same for your potential employer, i.e. you don't know whether your potential employer is going to be okay with it, or frown upon it. Dress shoes are universal for interviews so you can't go wrong with it.