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interview suit quesion

DaveDr89

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All,
I have a couple of interviews next week, one with a pharma CRO and the other with the FDA.
The same suit will have to be used for both since they will be during a conference on the same day,
possibly to be followed up in the future with on-site interviews. I'm 42 and both jobs are Phd
statistician jobs. Suit ideas:

Blue 2B Corneliani MTM suit (single pleated plants)
Blue Isaia 2B pencil stripe suit (flat front pants)

Both fit great and are nice suits, perhaps the Isiai a little nicer with the flat front pants look.
However, I'm thinking the Isaia might be "over the top" for non-SFers or govt crowd? Thoughts? Or
perhaps just the straight blue as opposed to pencil stripe is better.

Shirt will be white with spread collar.
White Sam Hober silk pocket square

Now the shoes:
Option 1: brown C&J Audley.
Option 2: Black C&J Belgrave
Both work, but when I currently wear these suits during the day I tend to prefer brown. Should I
switch to black even though it's daytime since it's an interview and some non-SFers don't visualize
brown with anything but tan suits?

Now the tie:
Option 1:
http://www.samhober.com/store/englis...lk-tie-59.html
Option 2/3:
http://www.samhober.com/store/englis...lk-tie-17.html (but in wine/maroon color; also
have this in navy)
Option 4:
http://www.samhober.com/store/italia...ilk-tie-3.html

Any thoughts much appeciated
thanks!
 

kuwisdelu

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I'd go with the Corneliani. I'm not sure the interviewers will notice single pleats vs. flat front, but for suits I prefer solids for interviews. I'd wear the brown shoes, but I'm not an expert in what interviewers think of brown vs. black... I just prefer the brown with blue. And personally, I like tie 2/3 in wine/maroon.

Tell how it goes. I'm about to begin working on my masters in stats.
 

James Bond

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IMO, Corneliani, Belgrave (I would prefer the Audley, but I think a black shoe is the safest possible choice here), #2 in wine.
 

TC (Houston)

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That all sounds really nice, tie #1 is probably safest.

If you are worried about the Isaia suit, I'd skip the square. Perhaps for the type of position you are interviewing for, it doesn't matter, or will even be regarded as a plus, but I would tend to opt for the safer route and then wow them with my iGentisms after I secure the job.
smile.gif
 

voxsartoria

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Originally Posted by DaveDr89
I'm 42 and both jobs are Phd statistician jobs.

Let me give you a statistic: you will be a billion times better dressed than your competitors.

Are your interviewers prepared for that, especially the government employee?

That's a rhetorical question.


- B
 

voxsartoria

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Originally Posted by Sterling Gillette
What about a Paul Jheeta suit? Maybe with pleated PJ pants?

I was wearing Jheeta earlier today, although not his version of PJ pants.

Last week, I did wear Thom Browne's version of PJ pants.

But in neither case did I plan to work for the US Food and Drug Administration.

There were three sentences in this reply until this very sentence, which makes four, if you are statistically inclined.


- B
 

DaveDr89

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Originally Posted by voxsartoria
Let me give you a statistic: you will be a billion times better dressed than your competitors.

Are your interviewers prepared for that, especially the government employee?

That's a rhetorical question.


- B

Yes, that's a good point as PhD statisticians are usually very poorly dressed, myself included pre-SF. My only concern is that I may be very well dressed by SF standards but the interviewer may form an incorrect conclusion, e.g. "one shouldn't wear brown shoes w/ blue suits", etc. Or is that being paranoid?
 

voxsartoria

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Originally Posted by DaveDr89
Yes, that's a good point as PhD statisticians are usually very poorly dressed, myself included pre-SF.
My only concern is that I may be very well dressed by SF standards but the interviewer may form an incorrect conclusion, e.g. "one shouldn't wear brown shoes w/ blue suits", etc. Or is that being paranoid?


There is no chance that anyone from pharma or the Feds would distinguish between black and brown shoes, nor be able to place any connotation on the difference.

Frankly, you might want to tuck away the square during the actual meet and interview. That's going to having much more chance of an awry presence than your shoes because neither category of interviewer is reliably associated with someone with either a good aesthetic sense or social background that admires natty men.

I'm assuming here that you are not an automatic and essential choice.


- B
 

HRoi

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i would lose the square (just for the interview)
 

NattyIce

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Ditch the square. I would go with tie #1 or maybe the burgandy grenadine.

I would also play it safe and go with the black shoes. I very much prefer brown with navy, but for interviews I will put my preferences aside and wear black. I would go with the more conservative suit (sounds like the Corneliani.) I know it's boring, but I would play it safe - especially for the position you are interviewing for. You will already stand out do to the fit of your suit and little things like the way you tie your tie, there's no need to spice it up any more.

Remember you are going to get the job because of who you are and not what you wear, you're just trying to not get eliminated because of what you wear. Also, they are obviously interviewing you because they want to hire you, and they are now looking for a reason to not hire you. Don't give them one. Play it conservative.
 

SFEND002

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Nothing fancy. Conservative simple. Navy, Black shoes no square. What did you wear during your defense?
 

DaveDr89

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thanks for the advice. I wasn't thinking the pocket square could be a risk since it is a plain white square, but that is a good point that it should probably be lost to be safe. Looks like there is consensus on the black shoes. RE the tie, even though the maroon dotted tie is my favorite perhaps the first tie or the maroon grenadine are safer. I've actually never worn tie #1 (red w/ blue/white stripes) w/ my blue corneliani suit, usually wearing it w/ a charcoal suit instead but I suppose it goes albeit potentially boring.

RE the question about what I wore for my PhD defense, that was 12 yrs ago and I think I wore just shirt and slacks but PhD defenses are a different playing field than interviews when it comes to dress.
 

Sam Hober

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DaveDr89, Much as we enjoyed making the pocket square I would be tempted to leave it out for your interviews unless you know that whomever will be doing the interviewing will be wearing one. Wear the tie that you feel most relaxed in. My theory about interviews for jobs that are based on special skills is that you are being judged for how you fit in with their team more than what you know. So if you dress in a way that they do not even see your clothes but only hear what you have to say - this is good. Good luck. PS As a side note I struggled with the required statistics class in grad school but later on I came to love statistics and find them very useful. That one required class of course is not really designed to use statistics - only to understand them so its purpose was served.
 

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