“Casual Fridays” were a welcome relief when they first started happening about 10 years ago. Allowing casual attire in the office workplace one day a week came as welcome relief from the “spit and polish” suit-and-tie image workers were expected to convey on all the other days.

Unfortunately, two things happened that ultimately reduce the benefits of Casual Friday. The first was that because workers were allowed to dress casually on one day, they consciously or unconsciously began dressing to a lower standard on the other four days. The second was that as standards generally became more relaxed, more people started dressing like slobs than office workers.

What does this have to do with what you should wear to an interview? Simply this: Everybody’s had more than enough of the casual dressing approach, so for heaven’s sake DRESS UP for your job interview.

Dressing up is a sign of respect, a clear signal that you consider the company to which you are applying worthwhile and you want to work there. It’s much better to have your new boss tell you, “You look great, Harry, but you don’t need to dress to quite the level you do for this interview” than to say, “If you want to work here, you’ll need to look a lot better than you do now.”

Popularity: 12%