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ZennoSaji
Joined: 02 Feb 2010
Posts: 87
Location: Mito, Ibaraki
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 Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:26 am Post subject: |
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But what do girls have to wear to interviews? Besides a suit with a pencil skirt, what counts as suitable (haha oh the pun) for a woman to wear to an interview? Most of what I read comes from guys who always answer "SUITS." And.... While women have a lot more options, how many do we really have? What counts as formal and what counts as casual?
I'd ask a fashionista but Japan is a little different. |
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Bread
Joined: 24 May 2009
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:10 am Post subject: |
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| ZennoSaji wrote: |
But what do girls have to wear to interviews? Besides a suit with a pencil skirt, what counts as suitable (haha oh the pun) for a woman to wear to an interview? Most of what I read comes from guys who always answer "SUITS." And.... While women have a lot more options, how many do we really have? What counts as formal and what counts as casual?
I'd ask a fashionista but Japan is a little different. |
I notice a lot of foreign women wearing the kind of stuff they'd normally wear for interviews in the West, but looking at Japanese women, at least 80 or 90 percent of them wear suits, the kind with a jacket and a skirt or sometimes pants. I was just in a meeting with about 40 Japanese teachers and almost all of the women were wearing suits. I'd say ALL of the women under 40 were wearing suits. The foreign women were wearing things like sweaters, but personally I'd try to mimic the Japanese ones. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:44 am Post subject: |
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| ZennoSaji wrote: |
But what do girls have to wear to interviews? Besides a suit with a pencil skirt, what counts as suitable (haha oh the pun) for a woman to wear to an interview? Most of what I read comes from guys who always answer "SUITS." And.... While women have a lot more options, how many do we really have? What counts as formal and what counts as casual?
I'd ask a fashionista but Japan is a little different. |
Wear the suit even if you are a woman for the interview. Trousers or skirt doesn't matter so much as long as if you wear a skirt it is a conservative length (not more than an inch or two above the knee if you are of average height). If you don't have one then invest in one since even if you get employed at a school were the work dress is more casual, you'll still need the suit for your first day/openning ceremony and the odd formal occassion. You don't really have to wear a collared shirt under the jacket though; a smart top (with a high enough neckline) in an ordinary colour is fine. Make sure your top has some sleeve though, otherwise you will be forced to keep the jacket on even if everyone else removes them. |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 9:57 am Post subject: |
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| Bread wrote: |
| ZennoSaji wrote: |
But what do girls have to wear to interviews? Besides a suit with a pencil skirt, what counts as suitable (haha oh the pun) for a woman to wear to an interview? Most of what I read comes from guys who always answer "SUITS." And.... While women have a lot more options, how many do we really have? What counts as formal and what counts as casual?
I'd ask a fashionista but Japan is a little different. |
I notice a lot of foreign women wearing the kind of stuff they'd normally wear for interviews in the West, but looking at Japanese women, at least 80 or 90 percent of them wear suits, the kind with a jacket and a skirt or sometimes pants. I was just in a meeting with about 40 Japanese teachers and almost all of the women were wearing suits. I'd say ALL of the women under 40 were wearing suits. The foreign women were wearing things like sweaters, but personally I'd try to mimic the Japanese ones. |
I don't know if it's just my area or if it's becoming more common in the US in a general sense, but I had the hardest time finding a suit and, to be honest, I still don't own an "official" suit. It took me forever just to find a suit jacket. The stores around me had outfits, but no suits, like in the men's section of the stores back home.
For the US, are women wearing suits less or something? |
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Bread
Joined: 24 May 2009
Posts: 318
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| ssjup81 wrote: |
| For the US, are women wearing suits less or something? |
Not sure about most areas, but in the areas where I lived I never saw very many women wearing suits. The few times that I did a group interview, the women were always a lot looser on dress than the men (although not even all of them wore suits), with maybe one or two women in a suit. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005
Posts: 2142
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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| I would definitely wear a suit. It can be a pants suit, but a suit of some kind is pretty much expected here for interviews for women, even foreigners. If you were Japanese you would be expected to wear a black skirt suit with a white shirt, no exceptions, so foreigners actually get a lot of leeway in being able to choose the colour of their shirt and suit! |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Apsara wrote: |
| I would definitely wear a suit. It can be a pants suit, but a suit of some kind is pretty much expected here for interviews for women, even foreigners. If you were Japanese you would be expected to wear a black skirt suit with a white shirt, no exceptions, so foreigners actually get a lot of leeway in being able to choose the colour of their shirt and suit! |
Hm, but if it's like what I was saying, and bread, it might be more of a rarity as far as the US goes. As I mentioned a couple of posts above, I don't have a real "suit" because I honestly couldn't find one in the clothing stores as far as women's clothing was concerned. Now the men sections always had nice, full suits to buy, but not the women's section.
I managed to find an off-white jacket and found an off-white skirt to match and with the white, almost any color shirt will do. Crazy, right? |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:45 pm Post subject: |
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| ssjup81 wrote: |
| Apsara wrote: |
| I would definitely wear a suit. It can be a pants suit, but a suit of some kind is pretty much expected here for interviews for women, even foreigners. If you were Japanese you would be expected to wear a black skirt suit with a white shirt, no exceptions, so foreigners actually get a lot of leeway in being able to choose the colour of their shirt and suit! |
Hm, but if it's like what I was saying, and bread, it might be more of a rarity as far as the US goes. As I mentioned a couple of posts above, I don't have a real "suit" because I honestly couldn't find one in the clothing stores as far as women's clothing was concerned. Now the men sections always had nice, full suits to buy, but not the women's section.
I managed to find an off-white jacket and found an off-white skirt to match and with the white, almost any color shirt will do. Crazy, right? |
Unfortunately, no Japanese employer is likely to know nor care about how difficult it is to purchase proper business attire in your part of the US/US in general. Image is a big thing over here (professional image = professional mentality) and even in overseas recruitment, they are going to want to see that you get this loud and clear from word go.
If you can't find stuff in the stores, then you'll have to head into a bigger city or shop online. I've met many suited US business women, PAs, etc in my other job. So it's definately possible for women to get them if you look hard enough. |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 2:49 pm Post subject: |
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| seklarwia wrote: |
| ssjup81 wrote: |
| Apsara wrote: |
| I would definitely wear a suit. It can be a pants suit, but a suit of some kind is pretty much expected here for interviews for women, even foreigners. If you were Japanese you would be expected to wear a black skirt suit with a white shirt, no exceptions, so foreigners actually get a lot of leeway in being able to choose the colour of their shirt and suit! |
Hm, but if it's like what I was saying, and bread, it might be more of a rarity as far as the US goes. As I mentioned a couple of posts above, I don't have a real "suit" because I honestly couldn't find one in the clothing stores as far as women's clothing was concerned. Now the men sections always had nice, full suits to buy, but not the women's section.
I managed to find an off-white jacket and found an off-white skirt to match and with the white, almost any color shirt will do. Crazy, right? |
Unfortunately, no Japanese employer is likely to know nor care about how difficult it is to purchase proper business attire in your part of the US/US in general. Image is a big thing over here (professional image = professional mentality) and even in overseas recruitment, they are going to want to see that you get this loud and clear from word go.
If you can't find stuff in the stores, then you'll have to head into a bigger city or shop online. I've met many suited US business women, PAs, etc in my other job. So it's definately possible for women to get them if you look hard enough. |
OR they're doing it in the way that I did. Since they aren't selling suits, you buy every article of clothing separate. Apparently, it wasn't a problem, my outfit. Like I said, a suit jacket, a matching skirt, and a dress shirt. |
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seklarwia
Joined: 20 Jan 2009
Posts: 1546
Location: Monkey onsen, Nagano
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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Sure, you can do it that way.
But with the fabric patterns that were on some of the jackets and bottoms and the fact I have spoken about clothes with some of them, I can assure you that they aren't all doing the same. One person even enlightened me to the fact that Next, a very big UK clothes retailer that has a very affordable work section for women, even has a US site which was where she had gotten some of hers from.
Forturnately for us in the UK, these days you can pick up a suit jacket with the matching skirt/trousers on the cheap (as little as �35) in any Tesco Extra or Asda supermarket. I wonder why it is such a differenty story State-side. |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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| Probably because women wearing suits in the workplace is becoming less common. Ten plus years ago, I never had trouble finding a woman's suit. We'd go to the store and they would be there to choose from. Now you have to search for it, seemingly. Being here in Japan, and seeing how accessible women's suits are, made me a bit envious. |
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caylia
Joined: 11 Apr 2010
Posts: 5
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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Without question, man or woman, dress up for an interview - ESPECIALLY if it's any professional position.
If you are going to be a regular employee at Walmart, Target, or McDonald's, then that's a little different. |
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ZigzagCatcher
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 2
Location: Somewhere Over the Rainbow...
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: |
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| I agree with some of the posters here on this topic...wear a suit!! When I had my group interview, everyone was wearing a suit (females and males both) and when the recruiters were discussing work clothing during the info session they remarked on this fact. Your dress attire can make or break a first impression. Show them how much you appreciate being able to interview with their company by taking time to dress appropriately. You never know how many people may or may not wear suits to this interview, but to be on the safe side, dress to impress. Wearing a suit doesn't have to be unfashionable...if you take the time to shop and look around...you can find a suit that fits your style of fashion! Although neutrals go best at an interview...suits do not have to be black with white shirts...get creative! In the end, I don't know what was the factor that actually got me the job offer, but I do think that wearing a suit and taking the interview process seriously were plus marks for me....sorry if I got carried away with my ramblings!!! |
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ssjup81
Joined: 15 Jun 2009
Posts: 664
Location: Adachi-ku, Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:02 pm Post subject: |
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| IMO, I feel it's common sense to wear a suit (or some equivalent) for a job interview. |
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ZennoSaji
Joined: 02 Feb 2010
Posts: 87
Location: Mito, Ibaraki
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| Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 5:41 am Post subject: |
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| ssjup81 wrote: |
I don't know if it's just my area or if it's becoming more common in the US in a general sense, but I had the hardest time finding a suit and, to be honest, I still don't own an "official" suit. It took me forever just to find a suit jacket. The stores around me had outfits, but no suits, like in the men's section of the stores back home.
For the US, are women wearing suits less or something? |
I live in SoCal; I think the only women I see wearing suits anymore in this country are on CSPAN. o_o
Poopy-scoopy. I not only have to find a suit, I have to find one that looks good on a fat hourglass shape. I'll have better luck making one from scratch.
Thanks for the replies, guys. :3 It was very helpful! |
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