So you landed a job interview at a startup. Now what?
What exactly are you supposed to wear? A suit? Or just jeans and T-shirt?
A bunch of startup guys chimed in on Quora about this very topic. Here is what they had to say.
HauteLook's Greg Bettinelli wrote:
I did attend my first interview with HauteLook wearing a Liverpool soccer jersey and 7forallmankind jeans with large holes near both knees. This is not advised :)
Foursquare's Tristan Walker wrote:
Whatever everyone else is wearing IMO.
A Palantir engineer wrote:
As long as you don't smell bad, we don't really care.
Bo.lt CEO Matthew Roche wrote:
- Sales and public execs - Sport coat and pressed pants on a call. Jeans or khakis and a shirt with a collar otherwise
- Marketing - Dress for the event when you are out of the office. Dinners should have clothes for dining out, shows should be a collared shirt or the company uniform if you are doing booth duty. Look put together inside the office.
- Product Management/Marketing - Patagonia/REI, jeans/khakis
- Client Service - Collared shirt and nicer pants at the client. Jeans and a collared shirt inside.
- Engineering - Wear clothing
Roche added, "these are obviously male clothing recommendations."
Gowalla co-founder Josh Williams wrote:
If it turns out the startup is super casual, you're fine. You've got jeans and a casual shirt on beneath the sport jacket. You won't be construed as stuck up or pretentious.
If it's a bit more formal, you've got a jacket on and you'll show the interviewer that you're taking this seriously. At this point your portfolio, resume and personality need to be doing the heavy lifting.
Final Advice: Skip the light jeans and wear the dark ones
SeatMe founder Jordan Mendelson wrote:
I have a very specific set of clothes I wear when I'm doing everything from meeting VCs to talking to potential business partners. I go preppy. Collared shirt, v-neck cashmere sweater, well fitting jeans and nice shoes. Often paired with a jacket which I either take off or keep on depending on how formal the setting I'm walking into is.
Yammer's Matt Knopp wrote:
Come to us in jeans and a tee, just make sure they're clean.
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