<p>This is the first time I'm doing this and I definitely feel a bit lost.</p>
<p>1) For the career fair, is it acceptable for me to wear dress pants with a dress shirt and tie? I have class immediately before and after and my gut feeling says that going to the career fair with a suit would be way too overkill.</p>
<p>2) Any interesting formats for resumes? I already submitted my formal resume to bunch of companies but I know at the career fairs many of the recruiters will only glance over the resume. I read something on CC about some guy who folded a piece of paper in half, put his name and major on the front, a brief cover letter intro on one side of the inside, and the typical resume stuff on the other side. Is something like this advisable to stand out?</p>
<p>3) I have an interview with an engineering firm and I'm required to attend their info session the day before. There's no specified dress code so is the dress shirt+pants+tie okay still? My campus is pretty small and it jst dawned on me that I've never really seen any students in suits for these things, but I've seen plenty in aforementioned attire.</p>
<p>4) I'm definitely wearing a suit to the on-campus interview. Just some concerns about my appearance: my suit is well-fitted but the pants are very slightly too long. It's weird to describe...they're not baggy but it's long enough that the bottom "folds" just a bit. The only remedy is to pull them up higher, but it feels weird so high up my stomach. Is it advisable to get an emergency alteration on this? I have 5 days...</p>
<p>5) another slightly silly question: my suit is black and I have two identical shirts in different colors - white and blue (dull blue, nothing too bright). Should I go with white or is that too "stiff"? I think I'm starting to freak out over small details here</p>
<p>You might ask a friendly upperclassman that you trust about attire for the job fair (or a faculty member or the job placement/internship folks who are organizing the job fair; you can also ask them about attire for the info session & on-campus interview). I know my S asked me to mail him his blazer & dress slacks to wear for the job fairs on his campus. That surprised me but I guess his campus was dressier than yours. S is not normally found in any attire other than tshirts & shorts.</p>
<p>Either shirt should be fine. If you’ve been OK with your suit up until now, I wouldn’t worry about getting an emergency alteration. You are NOT being hired to be a model or fashion designer and will probably spend most of your time sitting where the length of your slacks won’t even be apparent. Please do your best to relax and not “overthink” this–be yourself.</p>
<p>I see no reason not to stick with a traditional resume–good grades and experience will help them remember you better than something odd or quirky, in my mind.</p>
<p>Speaking as a parent of college-age children and as someone who has been on the interviewer side of the table (not for a while, howver):
Yes. N ever too early to make a good impression, and if everyone else shoes up in t-shirt & jeans (unlikely), recruiters would be more likely to remember you.
Make resume easy to scan and glean key information about you, yet will pique the recruiter’s interest enough to ask questions. Resumes are used as filtering devices, we read them looking for key words that match what we think we are looking for. Their ONLY use is as a filter; more often to filter someone out than in. Assuming this is for an internship/summer program, do not sweat if you have no relevant work experience. use what you have if it demonstrates good general work habits and use class experience to indicate areas of interest. We “get” that everyone has to start somewhere.
At least business casual. No jeans, no t’s. Collar shirt or button down (better IMO but I am an old-f*rt) & khakis are the minimum I suggest.
Up to you - you want to be comfortable and hemming pants is a quick job. Regardless, make sure shoes are clean and shined. Subconciously, many people use that as an indicator of attention to detail.
Chill. No one expects a college student to have an expansive wardrobe. Use a tie to offset the shirts if you feel that’s needed. (Is what my S does with his wardrobe)</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread. Son goes to a very large state flagship, and has class all day. I really hope he makes an attempt to go to the engineering fair in a couple of weeks. Will look to this thread for advice.</p>
<p>Just an opinion from someone who does career fairs and interviews. Dress pants, dress shirt, and a tie never looks good. Most men’s style websites or magazines have run articles basically making fun of people that do this. It makes you look very “used car salesmen” in my opinion. </p>
<p>In my opinion the tie-less suit look is always a safe bet when you don’t know what people will expect. </p>
<p>As for the interview…there is nothing wrong with calling HR and asking. I did it for every interview I went on in college.</p>
<p>Can’t edit previous post but I respectfully disagree with HereWeGo. Khakis are not business casual in any of the dozens of offices I have been in or around. Slacks and a dress shirt is business casual. </p>
<p>I actually had to sit an intern down this summer who kept wearing khakis when we’d say it is business casual and tell him to wear slacks.</p>
<p>By the way, many/most dry cleaners will hem slacks for a minimal charge in one day or less. Call around to those near your campus & see whether any of them can do it, as what is the point of having them too long anyway? By the time you grow taller, you may also grow wider.</p>
<p>If you wear dark colored khakis, they look pretty decent as dress slacks. S did NOT have much of a wardrobe for business attire when he was going to job fairs & seeking internships. His clear, good resume & interviewing skills got him many opportunities in spite of his sparse wardrobe.</p>
<p>After he had gotten a full-time job, did to go Thailand & picked up quite a bit of clothing that fit him (slim & 5’6"); had a very tough time finding appropriate clothing in the US. It is worthwhile finding clothing that fits well and looks good on you but not necessarily a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>Just a disclaimer for my opinion…Engineering firms and positions tend to be much less focused on wardrobe than MBA, UG Business, etc. career fairs. </p>
<p>A friend of mine that interviewed with a prestigious engineering firm in Chicago showed up to the interview in a tie-less suit look and the interviewer was in jeans and a polo. I would still suggest skipping the no-jacket tie look though. Either wear a jacket with the tie or don’t wear tie at all.</p>
<p>business casual varies widely… from what workingATbig4 described to the jeans that Steve Jobs regularly wore during presentations. Also agree that engineering is generally on the more casual side of the spectrum.</p>
<p>I agree that engineering is generally more casual than other industries, but for a career fair and information session, I would always wear a shirt, tie and dress slacks, if not a full suit. Remember, career fairs and info sessions are networking events, so you want to dress to impress, and you absolutely want to bring copies of your resume/cover letter with you. I know countless people who actually scored interviews with elite firms BECAUSE of the networking events (their resumes and GPAs were good but likely not enough to warrant a first round interview).</p>
<p>Unless specifically told otherwise, dress for an interview is business formal. If your pants are too long, then yes I would advise getting them altered… not necessarily a big deal, but it’s just nice to have a suit that fits perfectly.</p>
<p>Others have addressed the resume issue well. As long as your resume is clear and easy to read, it will be effective (though I know a few people have done awesome things… one kid made his resume a business card; I know of one looking at advertising internships who designed his resume as a billboard and submitted that).</p>
<p>You are looking for a job as a professional…not going to class or a dance…dress the part. You cannot be overdressed (unless you elect to wear a tuxedo of course!)</p>
<p>You get 1 chance to make a good first impression…don’t screw it up!</p>
<p>I usually wear jeans, nice shoes, and a dressy collared shirt. I’ve never had any problems getting jobs or internships. I’m a CS major though, which might have a “less formal” reputation than some other engineering majors. I think a suit and tie is unnecessary, though you wouldn’t look out of place.</p>
<p>Always wear a suit. You’re trying to demonstrate a level of professionalism and seriousness about your interview. A suit will say that. </p>
<p>As far as what “other people” wear - don’t worry about that. It varies from school to school and recruiters go from school to school. So they’re comparing you against a dozen or school schools, not just against the people in the room at the same time as you.</p>
<p>One thing I’ve noticed is that at the better schools, career fairs are virtually 100% suit. In fact, some schools won’t let you into the career fair without a suit. At the lower tier schools, you see more casual.</p>
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<p>Never use an “interesting format” for an engineering career fair. If you’re a graphic designer, sure. But the key aspects people look for before hiring an engineer are attention to detail and ability to comply with standards and norms. Pay attention to detail by having no grammatical errors, using 32 lbs paper, and making sure the watermark on the paper is in the right direction (no one would dock you for this, but it shows impressive attention to detail). Make sure your resume follows standard protocols and looks professional.</p>
<p>If you want to be different, go extra professional by having something like a professionally made business card. It costs $20 to have 500 cards professionally made at your local Office Depot and it will make you memorable (MBA’s and PhD students do this all the time, but undergraduates very rarely do it). </p>
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<p>Info sessions are a little trickier. Maybe a quarter of people will wear suits, the rest will be in something more casual. You get all sorts of dress info sessions.</p>
<p>Two things to keep in mind: 1. it won’t look that bad if you’re the most dressed up person in the room, but it will look bad if you’re the most dressed down person in the room. So err on the side of too formal. 2. If you show up in a suit, and you’re the only one wearing a suit, you can hang your goat on the back of you’re chair and now you aer suddenly just wearing slacks and a tie. If you’re the only one wearing slacks and a tie, go to the men’s room for a minute, take off your tie and open your top button, and now you’re business casual. You’ll never wait to be more casually dressed than business casual.</p>
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<p>You need your pants hemmed. It would take a tailor 15 minutes to do this and should cost about $5. It’s a very simple fix that even most dry cleaners can do for you while you wait. </p>
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<p>It’s good to freak out over small details. Engineers tend to be detail oriented so if your interviewer is an engineer, he or she will care that you pay attention to the little things. There’s not much of a difference between light blue and white with a dark suit. A sharper contrast between the suit and shirt psychologically conveys more honesty, so you wouldn’t want to wear a dark blue shirt.</p>
<p>Just to follow up. My son went to the engineering fair on campus, just to see what it would be like. He walked back to his dorm room after classes, 30 minutes, to catch the last hour of the fair. He was wearing a nice polo and khakis, and tennis shoes. He was denied admittance to the fair because of his tennis shoes. His roommate, whom I never met but must be a big boy, too, was leaving, and changed shoes with my son. I’m guessing he had the appropriate footwear. I applaud his resourcefulness, as he was tempted to just go back to his room and skip the fair, but I wish he would have paid a little more attention to the flyer, which had in very small print on the bottom, Business professional attire. I’m actually surprised he was let in with the polo and khakis, since I always thought of business profession as a suit, and business casual was more what he was wearing, a polo and khakis, and eventually, a nice pair of shoes. Alas, the fair was a bust, as most of the companies were automotive in nature, and he was hoping to find something more in the biomedical engineering field.</p>
<p>S has purchased quite a few shoes since he started college. When he left our home, he only owned rubber slippers and a pair of sports shoes. Now, I believe he has at least 6 or more pairs of dress shoes and even a pair or two of rockclimbing shoes.</p>
<p>Glad your S had the resourcefulness and friend to borrow shoes from. It is important to read the fine print. I guess S was right that he needed the dark blue blazer & dress grey slacks for his career fair (it was what the males from his HS graduated in). I thought he was crazy, but guess not.</p>
<p>6 pairs of dress shoes? My 55 year old executive father has never had more than 3-4 pairs. Honestly if he is buying cheap shoes it doesn’t matter. Cheap shoes stick out like a sore thumb. 2-3 nice dress shoes is all you need. 6 cheap pair of the wrong shoes is useless. </p>
<p>And what do you mean by “dress shoes”? Because loafers and boat shoes aren’t dress shoes. Are we talking wingtip, lace ups, etc.?</p>
<p>They are lace ups and not loafers or boat shoes. He has never asked & I have never given my opinion about his shoes. I figure he’ll work it out and he’s paying his own $$. The shoes don’t look cheap but were probably purchased on-line by him at good prices or perhaps when he was in Thailand. He’s a very good shopper.</p>
<p>My son does have dress shoes, as well as boat shoes. He just wore his tennis shoes because he was doing a lot of walking. He also has his blazer, dress shirt, tie, to go with the dress shoes, and wears them for presentations. I think he wears his boat shoes to church, his preference. The career fair was a source of contention between us, as he said he didn’t have time to go, has so much homework, although he promised us at Christmas break he would attend such things, as we made it clear he was not going to sit on the couch all summer and play video games. I am upset he didn’t read the fine print, as really, business professional would have been a suit, and he was lucky he got in with the khakis and polo. He went to a summer program during high school where he was required to wear business professional some days, business casual other days, and casual on other occasions. We spent a pretty penny on his wardrobe for those programs, but felt it was a learning experience. Up until that point, he had only worn his school uniform and swimming suit for his sport of choice.</p>