What Should a Teenager Wear to a Job Interview

Your dress can say a lot about you as an employer and many teenagers don’t know just how offensive their attire can be to an employer. Here are a few tips for getting ready for your next interview.

Say No to Jeans

Teens often confuse jeans with acceptable pants, however, after the age of 5 jeans are often not acceptable. Jeans were invented for industrial purposes mainly. They were never invented for casual wear. This is why they are almost never acceptable to wear. Instead, choose a nice pair of slacks.

Color Matters

Believe it or not, the color of your clothing can evoke perceptions in the mind of your employer. As a young man, you don’t want to wear brightly colored clothing such as bright pinks, greens or yellows. These colors often seem childish and can be mistaken for casual or beach wear. Try to choose neutral colors when meeting your interviewer. Gray, blues and whites can be good choices, however, if you don’t have any clothing in these colors, try to pick out pale or toned down colored clothing.

Ditch the Suit & Tie

While suits and ties have their place in society and often, many specific job interviews as a teenager it may be a bit over the top. You don’t want to appear as if you are wearing something unusual or what you would only wear to a job interview to impress the interviewer. Most people can see right through this and will often take you less seriously.

Long Sleeve vs. Short Sleeve

You can easily get away with either a long sleeve or short sleeve shirt when going to an interview. However, some environments may not be suitable for one or the other. You may want to wear a short sleeved polo shirt for more casual settings such as retail or fast food. However, a long sleeved shirt might be more suitable for interviewing at an environment that for safety or professional reasons requires long sleeves such as industrial or professional settings.

Imitate the uniforms

An employer may be looking at your attire to see how you would dress on the job, if they don’t already have uniforms. Even if there are uniforms they may also be looking to see how willing you are to conform to the uniforms. This is why it may be helpful to research the company uniform or attire policies and dress accordingly.

No patterns

Try to avoid clothing that has patterns on them. Hawaiian shirts, brand name clothing, and sports team jerseys are not recommended. You are an employee, not a model and you want your personality to show up on your resume not your clothing. Also, companies often choose not to have their employers wear clothing with statements that might offend so it wouldn’t be wise to give your employer the idea that you might be wearing this to work.

Bottom line, both your employer and you know that you are a teenager. You wouldn’t want to make note of the fact by wearing clothing that makes you stand out. However, you don’t need to dress in such a way that makes it seem as if you have never worn professional attire before. Your clothes can say a lot about you and if you’d prefer not to stand out as teen job seeker, it’s best to let your resume do the talking rather than your clothes.

Best of luck job hunting!

Jake

Read also: Job Interview Tips for Teenagers