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David Melton of the Men's Warehouse in Silver Spring recommends this crisp, dark suit for applicants for jobs in business. (Newsline photo by Alan J. McCombs)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Penny Fuchs had a problem on her hands. Fuchs, director of internships and career development at the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism, was being told by a recruiter that she wasn’t happy with the talent.

 The recruiter said that a student walked in for a campus interview “in something less than business attire,” Fuchs recalled.

“It left the recruiter with one of two impressions: one, that [the student] wasn’t all that interested in the job…. [and two] that you’re not ready to work in a business setting,” Fuchs said, recounting the recruiter’s comments.

The sour impression led to a mass e-mail this fall to all of the school’s undergraduates, addressing the need for students seeking professional jobs to dress professionally. 

Some of those students will be among the roughly 5,000 graduating this month from the 11 public universities and institutions across Maryland. They will join thousands more across the country who may need help navigating the transition from dorm rooms and campus jobs to board rooms and professional work.

“I don’t want to give out the impression that wearing a tuxedo is required. It’s about showing up respectably dressed,” said USA Today Deputy Managing Editor Ed Foster-Simeon, who has gone over hundreds of resumes in his seven years overseeing hiring for both the print and online operations.

Standard men’s business wear -- a button-down shirt, a tie, sports coat and dress pants -- are ideal clothing for a journalist coming for an interview with the organization, said Foster-Simeon. But, he said, an applicant can get by with a sports coat and slacks.

For women, similar general guidelines apply, he said.

“I’m not going to get into a discussion of how short or long a skirt should be; the key thing is that they look professional,” he said.

The important thing is that aspiring journalists look like they are ready to discuss their careers, not head out for a night on the town with friends.

“They should have me thinking about their potential as a journalist,” Foster-Simeon said.

Some Latitude Allowed

But some careers allow or expect a freer form of dress during initial interviews, recruiters said.

For aspiring teachers and technology professionals, applicants can get a tad more creative in appearance.

“Very often, you may, especially for elementary [school] people, have someone come in with school buses or some other design on their tie,” said Susane Zilber, a human resources manager who has been one of four people directly overseeing hiring of candidates in Howard County Public Schools for the last seven to eight years.   

She said for male applicants, a casual sports coat, nice tie and dress slacks are acceptable for interviews for teaching positions in Howard County Schools. Art teachers commonly wear more artistic and stylish outfits to interviews, she said.

While creativity in dress can let the interviewer get to know an applicant’s personality, Zilber recommends that young applicants be careful not to come in looking, “too casual, too sloppy [and] just unkempt.”

Similarly, young professionals going into the technology field need to look cleaned up, but dress requirements are looser than for some other professional fields, said Carrie Abbott, a human resources manager with NexTone, a Gaithersburg-based company that provides calling over the Internet.

NexTone has dealt with a large volume of new hires, as the company that was founded in 1998 with a handful of staffers now boasts 220 employees and has offices in in Singapore, London and Tokyo.

Like other companies, NexTone would be happy to see male applicants come in wearing a business suit and tie, but “dress slacks and a button-down shirt” will suffice, said Abbot.

She said young women should put the debate between wearing a skirt and wearing a pant suit out of their minds. “[It] doesn’t matter at all,” Abbot said.

However, she added, if a woman is going to wear a skirt either for an interview or the job, she should make sure it’s not too revealing.

The Business Look: Buttoned-down

While teachers and tech workers may be able to experiment somewhat with dress for an interview, graduates fresh out of business school have a better shot in an interview when they stick to professional business wear, said Christy Peacock, a human resources employment manager with Legg Mason, a global investment managing firm based in downtown Baltimore.

Wearing the business suit for a business interview is a good first step, but students also need to be mindful of their general appearance, Peacock said.

Piercings, spiky hair and other ornaments may be popular among some young people, but they may not win over the person across the interview table who may be 10, 20 or 30 years their senior.

“They need to be mindful that they maybe interviewing with a different generation,” Peacock said.

Hiding some personal flair during the interview doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for spiked or multihued hair in the office, but “during your interview, you should look your best, and when you’re conducting a meeting, you should be wearing a suit,” said Peacock. 

For such an interview, a dark suit would probably be best for men, she said. However, even in the business world that preference can vary depending on what department someone’s applying for and what the interviewer’s tastes are, Peacock said.

For women, Peacock said a professional-looking pants suit would be fine.

She gave a strong warning about wearing appropriate skirts, not only for the interview but on the job.

“You don’t want to be too short. An inch above the knee [is appropriate] -- not much more than that,” said Peacock. “You don’t want to wear something that will rise up too far [when you sit].”

In the end, Peacock said, the best way for an applicant to know what’s appropriate for an interview is also the simplest: to ask the recruiter.

“They need to ask anything and everything to the recruiter and not be scared to ask,” said Peacock.

 The Look Is Important, But Communication Is Key

But what truly determines whether a person is hired or shown the door, NexTone and others company spokesmen say, is what the applicants say and do once the interview starts.

For NexTone, making sure new hires have the right attitude for the company is very important, Abbot said.

“The culture of the company is very team-based,” Abbot said.

Personality and communication skills are also key, said Dan Bearing, a vice president of marketing with NexTone. “If you have a great domain expertise and knowledge but you can’t communicate it, then you’re less valuable to us,” he said.

Foster-Simeon stressed that while professional dress is nice to see, it will never make up for experience and ability. “We typically hire people with five to six years of experience,” he said.