New to Bangalore: What Should I Wear for an HR Interview – Western Formals, Saree, or Churidar?

Hi,

I am new to Bangalore and have a lot of difficulty deciding on the kind of dress that I need to wear for an interview. I would like to know your inputs regarding the best attire for a woman to wear for an interview. Please help me decide whether Western formals, Indian Saree, or the Churidar is best.

Please bear in mind that I am a person with over 11 years of experience, and I am mostly applying for positions in HR.

Thanks,
Sherine

Hi Sherine,

Especially in a metropolitan city like Bangalore, I believe that any formal dress should be good enough if you feel comfortable in it, whether it is western wear, a saree, or a churidar. What is important, however, is how you carry yourself and your attitude. But if you want to play it safe, a saree in India is still considered the best choice.

Hi Sherine,

No Western outfits, please. You can wear a saree or churidar. Most importantly, you should be shining with confidence. Dressing is secondary. People are very broad-minded at my place, but we do prefer a formal dress code. The main thing is you should be very smartly dressed. The first impression should say it all.

The rest will follow.

Regards,
Vishal

Hi Xavier,

I don't agree with you at all. Formal dressing is very important. She might feel comfortable in a particular dress, but the other person should feel the same. Most of the companies in Bangalore have serious dress code protocols. There are people at Infosys who got fined for not being formally dressed.

Regards,
Vishal

Hi Sherine,

I'll suggest going for Western formals. That gives more confidence than a saree or a churidar. It's only because of my personal experience. Rest in what you feel comfortable.

Dips

I agree with the replies so far. The main thing is to be sure you are showing respect for the organization by dressing appropriately, including cultural norms. However, it is still possible to show some individuality.

I have been involved in many selection processes and have to say I am often disappointed with colleagues on selection panels who get fixated on an applicant's fashion sense at the expense of their abilities, knowledge, and experience.

Why should we care whether a person's shoes match their outfit, or whether they are dressed in some up-market fashion label? I still haven't got the answer to that one, but I just know it does seem to be important to some!

Thought you might be interested in advice from this website: http://www.quintcareers.com/dress_for_success.html

"How should you dress? Dressing conservatively is always the safest route, but you should also try and do a little investigating of your prospective employer so that what you wear to the interview makes you look as though you fit in with the organization. If you overdress (which is rare but can happen) or underdress (the more likely scenario), the potential employer may feel that you don't care enough about the job.

How do you find out what is the proper dress for a given job/company/industry? You can call the Human Resources office where you are interviewing and simply ask. Or, you could visit the company's office to retrieve an application or other company information and observe the attire current employees are wearing -- though make sure you are not there on a "casual day" and misinterpret the dress code.

Finally, do you need to run out and spend a lot of money on clothes for interviewing? No, but you should make sure you have at least two professional sets of attire. You'll need more than that, but depending on your current financial condition, two is enough to get started, and you can buy more once you have the job or have more financial resources."

Using the search words "dress code interviews" on Google provides a wealth of opinion.

Hi scare_crow,

Dressing might show some signs of maturity, i.e., how well a person conducts himself. I will tell you about an incident wherein I was asked to show my wallet. They were checking if I had kept the currency in the right manner or not. Unfortunately, the currency was not in the best shape; it was somehow put in the wallet. As a result, I didn't clear the round. Dressing and all are taken into consideration just to map a person's personality. They do this also because once a person gets inducted into the company, he represents the company. Therefore, they might not like a loud or casual person representing them. What do you say?

Regards,
scare_crow