What to wear to an interview

Interview clothing has one job: to stop what you are wearing from being a thing anybody thinks about. That is a lower bar than looking impressive, and a more reliable one.

Find out the room first

Dress codes vary enormously by industry, and turning up in a suit to a workplace where nobody owns one is its own kind of mismatch. Look at the company's own photographs of its people. Ask the recruiter directly — it is a completely normal question and they would rather you asked.

The safe default when you genuinely cannot tell: dress one notch above what you think the team wears day to day.

If it is a suit

• Navy or charcoal, plain. Not black, not a pattern.
• White or light blue shirt, pressed, collar sitting flat.
• A tie in a solid dark colour or a small, quiet pattern.
• Dark shoes, polished, belt matching them.
• Nothing that needs adjusting while you talk.

Everything should be comfortable enough that you forget you are wearing it within five minutes of sitting down.

The details that actually get noticed

In practice people don't register the cut of your jacket. They register a collar that gapes, a tie knot pulled off-centre, trousers puddling on your shoes, and shoes that have not been cleaned. Those are all free to fix and all more visible than anything else on this page.

Cut the tacking stitch on the vents and pockets of a new suit. Take the label off the sleeve. Check the back of yourself in a mirror before you leave, because that is the view the person walking you to the room gets.

Fit does the heavy lifting

A modest suit that fits properly outperforms an expensive one that doesn't, in every room, every time. If you have one suit and it fits in the shoulders, wear it with confidence; if it doesn't, an hour with a local tailor before the interview is the best money you will spend that week.

Give yourself time

Try the whole outfit on two days before, not that morning. Shirts shrink, buttons go missing, and shoes need cleaning. Nobody has ever regretted checking early.