I understand being out of work, but~

I find it very interesting, now that we've been having a lot of people come in for interviews since my work is hiring for the summer, how people dress themselves for a job interview.

When I was in 9th grade, I was taught that you're supposed to dress for the interview, not for the job. Regardless of whether you're interviewing for a position on Wall Street, or the thrill of flipping burgers, you dress nicely for an interview. Decent shirt (ie, with a collar), slacks or a modest skirt (both of these should be ironed), maybe a light jacket or sweater that looks nice (ie, not a falling apart mess), and descent shoes (with socks of some kind). You're outfit should not be too tight, but also should not be falling off of you. If you wear makeup, do it modestly, and don't wear loud jewelry. It might also be a good idea to take out the eyebrow/lip/nose/tongue piercings, while you're at it.

Now, I can understand how, if you've been out of work for awhile, you might not be able to go out and buy a suit or something, but it doesn't take much effort to put on a descent shirt, and iron a pair of slacks. I imagine you *could* get away with wearing jeans to an interview, so long as they don't have any holes, and both fit and are worn properly.

We have people showing up in t-shirts. One guy was wearing a V-neck sweatshirt over a t-shirt, and had matched this with khaki cargo pants with ragged bottoms and what looked like mildew stains all over them, tennis shoes, and a baseball cap. Was he going to an interview, or to the ball game? I can guarantee that if I had showed up to my job interview with my current company six years ago, wearing a t-shirt and wrinkled pants that didn't fit properly, I most likely would not have gotten the job. Even more so if the t-shirt had holes in it (yes, this has been the case with some of these people).

I can see the idea of business casual for an interview, but this is more like go-get-a-burger casual.

On the plus side, they're showing up to their interviews on time - typically about 10-15 minutes early, actually - but this does not give them time to go home and change clothing. This is true of all but one person, whose interview had to be rescheduled; we suggested he iron his shirt in the mean time, which he laughed at the very idea of doing so.

Seriously, people - the person doing your interview is someone you want to impress. You will not do so by looking like a slob! If they think you look good on paper, you better make sure they also think you look good while you're sitting across from them during an interview. After that - if you're hired, it's whatever dress code the business has set up.