Job Interview

[queerbychoice]

I have a job interview! With that same job prospect who contacted me before. On Friday. I don't know what to wear!

I ordered two skirt suits two weeks ago, and received notification one week ago that at least one of them was shipped. But I haven't actually received either of them yet. So I'm not sure what to do about that. One or both might arrive before Friday, but then again, they might not. Maybe I should go to a store and buy one? I'm afraid of how much they'll cost in a store. The ones I found online were only about $25 each.

I might be able to make do with one of my existing skirts, paired with one of my or Susan's blazers in a matching color. It would be suitlike but not an actual suit. I'm not sure.

I suspect I'm also going to need to buy a new blouse to wear underneath the suit or pseudo-suit. Almost all my existing tops are T-shirts, not appropriate for wearing with suits. Susan's arms are quite a bit longer than mine, and her dress shirts tend to be long-sleeved, so I doubt that any of those will work for me either.

I haven't had enough time yet to create a new outfit for job interviews. I was only laid off two weeks ago! Last time I was unemployed, four years ago, I had a purple skirt suit and a purple blouse I wore with it. The skirt didn't fit anymore, so I threw it out. The blouse fit fine but had a little spot on it, completely invisible when worn under a suit, but irritating when worn for any other purpose, so I threw it out a month ago during my move - not foreseeing that I would need to go on a job interview a mere one month later.

I may need new shoes too. Last time I was unemployed, I worked out a system of layering three different colors of pantyhose/white tights to create the impression of shaved legs under a single layer of pantyhose, without having to actually shave my legs. I need to check whether those are still wearable, and figure out what shoes to wear with them. [Update: two of the three are still good, but the top layer needs to be replaced.] I don't think my existing shoes are good for wearing with pantyhose. Susan's shoe collection might help me out there; her feet are the same size as mine.

Also, I have horrible acne on my face that showed up around the time I was laid off and refuses to go away. I think I need antibiotics to get rid of it, but I can't get those because I only have catastrophic health insurance (until Susan's domestic partnership dissolution is finalized and we can become domestic partnerized - it should be any day now). I hope they don't decide against hiring me due to being afraid of my appearance.

Comments

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Do you not wear pants? I would imagine that'd make leg hair irrelevant, if you did.

What level of dressiness can you expect from your interviewer? Generally, being one level dressier is good. So, if they're shirt-and-tie, you need to be suit-level, but if they're business casual, you could easily wear a non-matched jacket and skirt, nice dress, or dress shirt & pants or skirt. And I think you can wait till Wednesday & then go shopping, and in the meantime you can investigate your current wardrobe. If Wednesday is a disaster, then you still have Thursday.

I find that a multivitamin with B, C & E in it will help a pretty bad case of acne for me, within a couple of days.

Congratulations!

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Pants would definitely make hiding leg hair a lot more convenient, but I would feel odd in pants. I never wear them, ever, unless I'm camping. I think I look strange in them, and I think my feeling of wrongness while wearing them would be noticeable.

I think the interviewers are likely to be at shirt-and-tie level. So I guess I need a suit. I will look for a multivitamin.

[keryx.livejournal.com]

Yes, if you feel weird, it will throw you off. Skirt it is, then. Can you justify opaque tights with your weather?

Good luck with the suits. I'd love to see photos.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

Opaque tights are actually part of my three layers already. I found that despite being labeled "opaque," they really weren't enough to hide my leg hair by themselves. Or at least the white ones weren't. I need a medium brown layer first to match the color of my leg hair, then white tights to match the color of my skin, then a top layer of tan for best coverage. Since my skin is virtually white, the white tights showing through the top layer can plausibly pass for skin.

[amanda-mary.livejournal.com]

Eee! Good luck!

Do you have access to a Savers or Goodwill or any other sort of thrift store? If you're forced to buy "interview clothes" that you'll likely never trot out for another purpose, and can't spare the expense of paying the full retail cost, I've found secondhand stores offer a lot of "good enough" pieces. And, like the previous commenter mentioned, a pantsuit will make the issue of shaving (or not-shaving) irrelevant.

[mariness.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, I once worked for/with a woman who would deliberately hire people with horrible acne on the basis that that way they'd be less good looking than she was.

You wouldn't have wanted to work with her though.

My freaking orthostatic stockings will cover up body hair. I think they're hideous but maybe they would work on your job interview. They have them at drugstores and in theory will keep your blood circulation going. In practice they amuse my cat.

[spreadsothin.livejournal.com]

Macy's now has truer opaque stockings.
I don't shave my legs and have worn their grey tights to many a job interview in a skirt suit.

Good luck!

[darthlorexa.livejournal.com]

Good luck!

[dzuunmod.livejournal.com]

Best of luck, Gayle!

[gamesiplay.livejournal.com]

Best of luck! I am terrible at dressing for interviews, so I don't have any advice there; I tend to get so frustrated I just want to go in jeans, so you're already more advanced than I am. :)

[lm.livejournal.com]

For the acne: try washing your face with honey every day for a while. Just apply it straight from the bottle, maybe let it sit on your skin for a while, massage into your skin, and rinse it off. The honey should help heal your current acne, and clean out + tighten up your pores to keep you from getting more.

Since my skin's allergic to everything I've had a terrible time finding anything to help deal with my acne. A few months ago I read about honey's antiseptic, healing properties and decided to give it a try, and it worked amazingly well. And since you can get a big bottle of honey at Trader Joe's for like $5, it's a cheap solution for the unemployed :)

Good luck on your job search!