MetaChat - Got the second interview! Fashion advice requested.

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28 November 2006

Got the second interview! Fashion advice requested. →[More:]Had my interview for the ultra-cool nonprofit job yesterday, and it went really well. Second interview's going to happen next week.

I think I totally overdressed for the first interview, however, and would love thoughts on what to wear for the second. I showed up in a long skirt, white button-down shirt, and cashmere sweater, with pearls because that's the one outfit I have where the pearls actually look cute rather than dowdy. The office was full of people in jeans and Gore-Tex and muddy boots. (I did at least wear boots rather than dainty heels. Not that I own many dainty heels. Anyway.)

I figure I've nailed the "Can you interact with our funders?" fashion portion of the competition. What do I wear to the second interview that will make me look like I can fit it, without making it look like I've got a split personality or am somehow embarrassed by the outfit I wore before?

post by: occhiblu at: 12:53 | 25 comments

When you say pearls, you mean a pearl necklace? Or pearl earrings?

I say, wearing a cute skirt and sweater/sweater set. Wear slightly funkier jewelry.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 28 November | 12:59

umm you could wear sleek modern looking silver earings or something with the same outfit and just switch the tone, that's what i would do...

posted by Mrs.Pants 28 November | 13:01

Both earrings and necklace. It's a double-strand necklace, so there's a bit of (restrained Waspy) artsiness to it.

I should also mention: There seems to be a bit of concern about whether, given my degrees, I'd be willing to do some of the grunt work for this job. I *totally* am willing to do so, and have no problem with that, but I know that I can come across (regardless of fashion choices) as if I were too superior to deign to do that sort of thing. (I think it has to do with being tall and not-talkative. Or something.) So covering the "Look, I'm approachable! I'll crawl around and fix your computer! Really!" thing is actually semi-important.

posted by occhiblu 28 November | 13:03

Oh! mi god! I am soooo happy for you.

A nice pant-suit. Your white shirt inside and the perls against the neck. Yum! Or a turtleneck with the perls around the colar. Or the turtle neck and just pearl earings. I'd wear boots, or mid-height heels, or flats. Do not wear jeans.

posted by carmina 28 November | 13:05

HOLY SHIT WEIRD

posted by sciurus 28 November | 13:06

So covering the "Look, I'm approachable! I'll crawl around and fix your computer! Really!" thing is actually semi-important.

Short nails, no paint.

posted by carmina 28 November | 13:08

(Heh, scirus. I thought you were riffing on my post. Work clothing advice all round!)

posted by occhiblu 28 November | 13:08

(I swear to GOD I fixed the spelling on your name on preview....)

posted by occhiblu 28 November | 13:08

No probs, I shouldnta commented in here anyway. ;)

Kick some ass, take some names, chica.

posted by sciurus 28 November | 13:13

Congratulations!

My wife works in the construction industry, so she's run into a degree of this kind of thing. With your permission, can I ask her for her take on your question?

posted by scrump 28 November | 13:25

solution: serious but funky, young but chic.

wear the cashmere and make it less stuffy by wearing it over white wife-beaters (think Stella McC) and a simple tan skirt

or: dark pants, white shirt, a funky vintage velvet jacket, boots

jewelry: I love the pearls but leave them home this time, go ethnic (say, some Berber silver, or Indian turquoise beads, go nuts): it always looks good and it's often very cheap. just wear one piece (a choker?) and maybe a bracelet

congrats and good luck

posted by matteo 28 November | 13:33

(I also love velvet vintage shrunken jackets over denim, don't choose light denim though, go indigo)

posted by matteo 28 November | 13:34

scrump, yes of course. Thanks!

posted by occhiblu 28 November | 13:46

Matteo's on the money. Even though it's a second interview & it's business casual do NOT, repeat do NOT, go too casual - i.e. jeans. Shorter skirt, boots, sweater or good black pants, nice jacket.

posted by mygothlaundry 28 November | 13:51

Well, based on my 2 years in the NPO trenches and another 3 years in the quasi-NPO world of public radio, here's my take:

People don't care, with one exception - The appearance of people in honest-to-god suits is recieved about as well as a lion at the antelope convention.

Everyone knows you're dressed up for the interview. As you've said, you've aced the "cleans up well" section of the test. I tend to worry more about the (guys, usually) who show up for interviews in sneakers and jeans - do they even own leather shoes?

Communicating your willingness to do the grunt work could be more a matter of opportunistic behaviour - small things like opening the door for someone else even though you are the guest could communicate your willingness to be helpful and service-oriented (ugh, did I just say service-oriented?).
Good Luck!

posted by Triode 28 November | 13:59

I am SO not the right person for fashion advice but just to say - *congratulations* on the second interview. Hope it goes much much further.

posted by altolinguistic 28 November | 14:22

Congrats, occhi! So far, the suggestion I like best is a turtleneck sweater, boots, some kind of nice trousers (I'd stay away from jeans, but maybe dark cords or straight-leg wool pants), and a fun pair of earrings.

As a nonprofit person, I DO think it's important that you convey your road-readiness and not seem like too much of a hothouse flower. But it would be odd to see someone make a huge shift in style betweem two interviews. If you showed up in pearls the first time, and jeans and fleece the second time, I'd think maybe your opinion of the company, or your desire for the job, had diminished in the intervening time.

posted by Miko 28 November | 15:02

It will remain a mystery why I'm enjoying this thread so much, but I am.

posted by urbanwhaleshark 28 November | 15:39

Well, it looks like a shopping trip is in order for this weekend, then. (I need more work-appropriate clothing, anyway.) I'm enjoying the mental image of myself in all these different proposed outfits, so I'll see what I can pull together.

And thanks for all the congratulations. Even if I don't end up getting this position, the positive interview has been a great ego boost. The guy kept saying things like "A person with all your accomplishments" and "someone who's so obviously intelligent" and various other "you rock" things -- not a bad way to spend an afternoon, actually.

Which may be the first time I've described an interview that way.

posted by occhiblu 28 November | 16:12

Many of the suggestions upthread would work beautifully in other parts of the country and/or if you hadn't already pulled out the cashmere and pearls. But from my own local nonprofit experience (in a job that ranged from presenting-to-funders to climbing ladders and crawling around), I'd say that Miko's right on the money.

posted by tangerine 28 November | 17:22

Wow. Now I know where to go for fashion help. MeChaWhatNottoWear. :)

posted by chewatadistance 28 November | 18:07

Howdy:

Here's what my wife done said:

Key word, starch.

Wear either starched jeans (blue or black) or starched slacks of some sort with the boots.
Top it off with either
--a cashmere or otherwise nice sweater with pearls or other jewelry piece
--classic starched white button down shirt with a stand up collar layered with either a sweater or blazer

I work in construction as a project manager, so I have to straddle the "office attire enough to meet with clients and VP types" but sensible enough to "walk the dirt trenches or climb scaffolding onto a roof." This is the core of my work wardrobe.

Hope this helps!

posted by scrump 28 November | 18:09

I'd say scrump's wife is right. I've worked dirty print jobs and had a recruiter tell me the follwoing. Wearing a skirt for the first interview represents that you know the rules of professional interaction. But for the second interview, tone it down a little by wearing well-ironed if not starched pants (not jeans) along with the white shirt under a more casual jacket or sweater with minimal jewelry and makeup and boots or durable outdoor-appropriate shoes. This lets them know that you are adaptable (which is very necessary in non-profitland), that you still respect your position as an applicant, but that you're not frumpy.

Good luck!

posted by Cinnamon 29 November | 03:52

Y'all are seriously the best.

posted by occhiblu 29 November | 14:29

Oh, and in re: starch, for those of you male and female playing along at home, find a drycleaner who knows how to do a military starch, not just a standard starch.

That way you can be someone like me, who could rumple a helmet (apologies to Terry Pratchett), and you can still look sharp most of the way into your day because your jeans have creases and your shirt looks awesome.

posted by scrump 29 November | 14:44

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