<p>i'm thinking a dress shirt + sweater with khakis and dress shoes.</p>
<p>should i step it up and go with dress pants? a suit?</p>
<p>Entirely depends on where you are working.</p>
<p>What were people wearing in your department when you interviewed? I would consider that when deciding what to wear. I would opt for dressing up rather than down first day. First impressions and all.</p>
<p>i’m working in an office environment.</p>
<p>i wore a suit when i was interviewed but i’ve lost a lot of weight since then and it doesn’t fit anymore.</p>
<p>Were the other people in the office wearing suits when you interviewed? If so, you need to buy a new suit (actually, more like 5 - business formal environments are expensive). </p>
<p>If they didn’t wear suits, shoot for the same level as what they wore.</p>
<p>What were the people working there wearing when you interviewed there? Use that as an example, though you may want to dress a little bit up from that.</p>
<p>However, if there is machinery or lab equipment around, consider safety aspects (e.g. wearing ties can be a bad idea around some kinds of machinery).</p>
<p>Just call hr or whatever contact you have at the company and ask them what the dress code is as well as what to wear your first day.
They will tell you exactly what to wear. Problem solved.
Seriously people, this isn’t that hard.</p>
<p>OP, you can’t possibly expect people to know what to wear without even the slightest bit of information about where you work.</p>
<p>You should know what your coworkers wear when you had your interview. Just copy them. Also, don’t overdress because people will think you are either too stuck up or too desperate.</p>
<p>i was interview by women so i’m not exactly sure what the male equivalent of the clothes is. I believe that during my 2nd interview one of them women was wearing a suit but she is really high up. </p>
<p>I was an intern at this company a couple years ago and would wear polos shirts because it was the summer. </p>
<p>Are there disadvantages to being too dressed up?</p>
<p>Would you expect a new grad engineer to be dressed much better than an intern?</p>
<p>You interned with the company and you don’t know the company dress code?</p>
<p>Do not call anyone and ask what the dress code is. Bad idea. You interned there, but you are not an intern anymore. If a high level exec was wearing a suit when you interviewed, I would recommend a suit the first day. You can take off the jacket when you get there. No downside. Then observe what most people (not interns) are wearing and go from there. Good luck!</p>
<p>“Just call hr or whatever contact you have at the company and ask them what the dress code is as well as what to wear your first day.
They will tell you exactly what to wear. Problem solved.
Seriously people, this isn’t that hard.”</p>
<p>@angryelf: If OP were to do this the employer would likely second guess their hiring decision. New hire should be able to figure this out, even if by asking on a public forum.</p>
<p>I think this is not as serious as some of the posters are making it out to be. Although, I do agree with @BanjoHitter that “you interned with the company and still don’t know the dress code?”</p>
<p>@OhioMom3000 - no employer worth their salt will second-guess their hiring decision based on a question about dress code. Most hiring decisions are much more serious and involved than that. No, a new hire is not expected to “figure this out” (esp. on internet forums), as each company has their own ways about dress-code, and some times even individual departments/groups (even within the same building) have their separate policies.</p>
<p>I do hire interns regularly and later hire many to be employees - a question about dress-code is very common and I’d (as the employer) would actually welcome the thoughtfulness of the new (or potential) hire in asking questions, including dress-code.</p>
<p>If none of this possible/practical, go with the general rule - dress up when in doubt.</p>
<p>"@OhioMom3000 - no employer worth their salt will second-guess their hiring decision based on a question about dress code."</p>
<p>Even if they interned there? Give me a break.</p>
<p>“No, a new hire is not expected to “figure this out” (esp. on internet forums), as each company has their own ways about dress-code, and some times even individual departments/groups (even within the same building) have their separate policies.”</p>
<p>OP has interned and interviewed with the company and this should be sufficient to “figure this out”. I disagree with you, brutallyhonest.</p>
<p>No, I won’t give you a break. You can disagree all you want - but that’s not how good employers operate.</p>
<p>Yes - I already expressed my agreement the fact that the OP should have known the dress-code, having interned there. </p>
<p>OTOH, I wanted to give some credit to the OP’s intentions of asking this question in the first place - may be they interned in a different dept. or whatever. Therefore, I wanted to give him something more useful than “figure it out on internet forums”.</p>
<p>Most companies have some sort of training for new hires, for which there is generally a specific dress code that may be different from what people typically wear.
Companies may also have a lighter dress code over the summer, particularly if it’s hot outside or if they have a lighter work flow. </p>
<p>No one will look down on you for asking what the dress code is. I have no idea what OhioMom is talking about. </p>
<p>Also, being overdressed is generally better than being underdressed (There may be some exceptions). Unless there is some specific reason not to, you can rarely go wrong with a suit.
If you’re expected to be business casual, just take off your tie…</p>
<p>@brutallyhonest. If you read all of my posts on this thread you will see that I gave OP useful advice. You did not contribute any advice to OP that had not already been posted.</p>
<p>“Yes - I already expressed my agreement the fact that the OP should have known the dress-code, having interned there.”</p>
<p>Enough said. </p>
<p>@angryelf. Please do not PM me. It is presumptuous of you to “guess” that I have “never worked in an office setting”. In fact, I have worked as a Lead Programmer for a software developer and have interviewed and hired Programmers.</p>
<p>In addition, angryelf, to assume that people who work in HR are “not exactly the top performers” is condescending.</p>
<p>when i was an intern 3 years ago, i remember the other interns wearing things like polos while the other employees would wear dress shirts. </p>
<p>People really high up would wear suits i would rarely interact with them.</p>
<p>I changed jobs a year ago. Corporate casual for IT is nice pants, a button down shirt (or blouse for a woman). A jacket is always good to have. My old company was very formal when I started and gradually changed to allow casual Fridays. Eventually, people could wear anything except jeans.</p>
<p>A good idea is to dress as formal as your manager.</p>
<p>Pocket protectors?</p>
<p>DS wears a point above what he wore to school and the same clothes he wore as staff engineer at big state univ. - jeans, button shirts, sneakers or leather walking shoes-he has a 1 mile bike commute, rain or shine. I think the commute removes the wrinkles from the clothes. I told him that he should have a spare change of clothes (nicer) and sports jacket hanging on his door/devider-he laughed.</p>
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<p>In some cases, I have seen interns attempt to dress more nicely than the regular employees (in a casual dress workplace). “Attempt”, because they seemed not to have any idea of how to find a properly fitting dress shirt (granted, may be harder to do for a typically built college student).</p>
<p>Use the other employees you observed as your guide. Make sure that your clothes fit.</p>