Skirt or Pants Suit?
An interesting cultural post from Pesky'Apostrophe on the question of what a professional white collar female should wear to an interview with someone she has never worked with (HT:Wizbang). I have never read this blog before but I will tell you that this post would increase my vote for hiring her.I have gotten this question exactly once from a female coworker. That case was somewhat different in that I had worked with the boss in question (who was a guy, and I think this makes a difference in this case) and she had never met him. I had never really thought about the generic question before and was somewhat surprised by the question even given the context that I had spent many hours not only at work but over beers with the guy she was interviewing with. Guys never think about this particular problem. As engineering geeks the question is always suit or biz casual, not skirt or pants.
As usual I have an opinion, which is no more or less valid than any other. I believe that the answer is not generic. I believe there are four types of women in regards to this question.
1. Women who are not comfortable in skirts in the biz environment. If you are one of them you should wear slacks. If the potential boss wants his/her women employees in skirts you don't want to work for them. Such a person is probably not worth working for irrespective of their gender.
2. Women who are most comfortable in skirts/dresses all the time. Such women are highly feminine and use their femininity to their advantage in the personal and business realms. Some of these women are sluts but most of them are just women who understand that their advantage in the business world is that they operate from a different perspective than their male counterparts and that they can counteract the "old boy network" by flirting with the "boys" and being allowed into their world. These women should definitely wear skirts to their interviews. And, btw, if I were running a business they are exactly the kind of women I am looking for. I am not today and don't ever intend to be. But if I were in a major hiring position I would be looking for employees who leverage who they are for maximum impact. Male, female, religious, secular, black, white, farmer's son, doctor's son, whatever. You have to maximize what you bring to the table in skills and life experience to be a major player in any business endeavor. I would never hire a slut but I would relish the opportunity to hire women who were highly qualified and separated themselves by being women who succeeded in a man's world by being women..... and bringing a new cut to every problem.
That is what I look for in a team to solve engineering problems today. Another person who looks at the problem the same way I do isn't useful. We are always looking for talented people who approach the problem in a distinctly different way than the rest of the team. This perspective, particularly w.r.t. women, is probably more skewed in the computer world in which I live than in other white collar occupations. A very small percentage of all CompSci and EE degrees are given to women. A very high percentage of the women who get the degree are below average engineers. The ones that are above average tend to be viewed as VERY above average because they inherently view the world from a different vantage point but possess the mathematical and logic skills to express that view in a way that the rest of us male geeks can follow and appreciate.
3. Women who are not comfortable in skirts at all. I have known few, even a few who are straight. Wearing something you are not comfortable wearing in general is suicide for an interview. Even if you get the job because of the skirt, will you be able to keep it wearing slacks every day? Will you be willing to be uncomfortable every day to keep it? Can you be productive if you are uncomfortable?
4. Women who pick the skirt/pants issue based on how they feel in the morning. I suspect that this is a large percentage of women and probably the author of the article in question. For them, and only for them, is this question really hard in the absence of information about the interviewer. If you have such information and the answer is skirts or pants then you have a moral dilemma which is what makes her blog entry interesting. Should a woman wear what she is "expected" to wear by the interviewer to get a job? I can't have a position on this given that I possess a penis and would like to keep it.
The big question is the generic question that the author poses. If you are generically indifferent to your wardrobe should you try to pick the "right" answer for the first interview. I ran this past my wife (see the end of #2 above) and she agreed with my position. My wife wore skirts and dresses more than slacks to work but she agreed with my position that most women pick their dress in the morning based on how they feel that day. And, suprisingly to me, she agreed that a first interview should not change that. Pick the pantsuit or skirt suit that you know works best for you, but pick between pants or skirt based on how you feel that morning. If you are dealing with someone you would like to work for the more important perception is that you are comfortable with who you are and not whether you are a pants gal or a skirt gal. And you will come across more comfortable if you make the pants/skirt decision based on how you feel that morning. I pick a red shirt or a blue shirt or a black shirt in the morning every morning. I take extra shirts on every business trip to match my clothing to my mood. I never have to choose between a skirt or slacks. I know based on the customer if I should wear slacks or jeans (and yes, jeans are a common answer in my world). On rare occasion the answer is slacks and a tie. On those occasions I travel with multiple ties. It only seems logical that most women would make their skirts/slacks decision in the morning to me.
BTW, the 25% quoted who prefer women in skirts probably fall into the category of people I wouldn't want to work for. I do not question for a minute that there are at least 25% of male managers who openly or discreetly present such a preference and fair number of female managers who do so also (and some of each prefer slacks to skirts). At least 50% of the managers I have worked with in my career are people I would not want to work for and at least 25% of the ones I know well I would refuse to work for, and I rarely dress beyond business casual outside of funerals and weddings.
As an aside, this question comes up w.r.t. dress for church. Would you go to a church that required business formal attire for services? Would you go to a church that welcomed people in jeans and T-shirts? How about shorts?
We all have our opinions about both of these topics. I disagree with Dennis Prager on the church attire question. I point this out because I agree with Dennis on most things and he is so good at making his opinions clear. I would rather go to a church that welcomes people whose heart is in the right place but are not comfortable in slacks and a tie than one that is rigid on something so non-germane to spirituality as attire. I would rather work with someone whose dress is outside of my comfort zone but is good at their job and brings a different perspective to our task than someone who is marginal at their job but I would be more likely to hang out with.
I believe that part of the reason we are kicking Europe's butt economically is that we have made the white collar world more open to educated and talented people who are not comfortable in a suit every day (and some of whom are pierced and tattooed to the extreme). I could be wrong but it is clear that our high schools are not the reason we rule the computer world and the worlds of medicine and scientific research.
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