Interview Attire

I have an interview today for a job in an entertainment company and I am also going to see a major accountancy firm about my Transitions Project for students with Asperger syndrome.

The two are very different companies and I am having to give a bit of thought as to what I am going to wear to strike the correct balance.

Obviously I need to be smart for both. However, when visiting the accountancy firm I need to be not only smart but very formal and business like. For the entertainment organisation it needs to be slightly different. I need to be presentable for sure, but I also need to avoid creating the impression of being too formal or stuffy even.

The latter point is important. A few years ago I went for a temporary job at a television company. The interview went well and the feedback I received afterwards was that I could have done the job without any problem.

However, I went to the interview carrying a book on the Russian Revolution which had been given to me as a Christmas present and I was reading it on the train en route to the interview. It was a very weighty tome and quite conspicuous. The two people interviewing me noticed it and asked about it.

I was told later by the recruitment agency that it gave the impression of me being too formal or something similar and, consequently, though they thought I was capable of undertaking the role, they didn't think that I would fit into the culture and I wasn't offered the role.

Today I am going to wear a nice suit. Whilst at the accoutancy firm I am going to wear a tie; when I visit the entertainment firm for the interview I am going to take it off so I appear smart casual.