/9918578/Banner

/9918578/Banner_2

/9918578/Mid

section

articleId

product

orgType

parrefer

accountID

Consulting

Banking

Accounting

Fintech

Internships

Rankings

Internship Rankings

Intern Resource Center

Explore Internships

Vault Law Home

Practice Area Resource Centers

Regional Resource Centers

Summer Program Resource Center

Vault Law Culture & Inclusion Survey

Vault Law

Guides

Events

Financial Services

Technology

Grad School

Work Relationships

Productivity

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Social Impact

Remote Work

Negotiating

Changing Jobs

Workplace Issues

Blog

Resume Samples

Cover Letter Samples

Interview Tips & Questions

A Day in the Life

International

Career Readiness

Explore Professions

Research Industries

Search Companies

Career Advice

Employers

Schools

&lt;p&gt;We got used to video interviews during the pandemic. They&#39;ve become the norm, and it&#39;s&#160;a good bet&#160;they&#39;re here to stay.&#160;If you have a&#160;video interview&#160;coming up, you need to&#160;do some&#160;serious video prep—and that begins with what you should and shouldn’t wear.&#160;So&#160;how&#160;do you dress for video-interview success?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;1. Choose your shirt carefully&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The most important clothing is what can be seen on the screen, so be sure&#160;your top half at least is not too casual. Don’t wear just any old shirt. Aim for&#160;one that is&#160;unremarkable—boring is better than loud. You want your interviewer to focus on you, not what you’re wearing, so keep things minimal, neutral, and professional. A classic button-down shirt or blouse is a good option.&#160;Avoid&#160;bright colors, dark colors, and busy prints. The safest choice is to wear white, light blue, light gray, or another light color, providing the color doesn&#39;t&#160;disappear into your background—for example don&#39;t wear white&#160;if&#160;a white wall is in the background.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The clothes you wear&#160;don&#39;t have to be formal, but should be both professional and camera-friendly. (And speaking of cameras, the&#160;quality of your camera, lighting, and background tremendously affect&#160;your appearance on screen, so make sure you have the right equipment, even if you have to borrow it from a friend.)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2. If you wear a blazer, leave the t-shirt in&#160;the drawer&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What&#39;s formal and what&#39;s casual are subjective, so&#160;research the culture of the company you’re interviewing with to&#160;get an idea of what’s appropriate to wear. Most company websites show photos of the workplace and on-site events.&#160;They&#160;can be a good indication of how most people there dress, but it&#39;s advisable to take&#160;it up a notch.&#160;For example even if most men in the photos are not wearing&#160;jackets, you may want to err on the side of formal. If&#160;you do decide to wear a blazer in your video interview,&#160;wear a collared shirt with it. While it’s possible to look good&#160;in a t-shirt with a blazer, it’s not recommended for a job interview.&#160;For women,&#160;a&#160;cardigan&#160;can&#160;also do the trick of making you look prepared and professional&#160;when you want&#160;an additional layer over a shirt or blouse.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;3. Mind what you wear from the waist down&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It can be tempting to not put too much focus on what you’re wearing off camera—for example,&#160;to wear shorts or sweats—but this is a mistake. Dress up head to toe to get&#160;into the right frame of mind and&#160;make the&#160;right impression.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Women may&#160;find it more comfortable to wear a&#160;dress instead of pants. Again, don’t pick&#160;one that&#39;s too bright or too dark&#160;or that has a busy print. A plain, neutral-colored dress is best.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4. Don&#39;t over-accessorize&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It may be tempting&#160;to&#160;add stylish accessories, but beware of over-accessorizing. Keep it simple&#160;when it comes to jewelry. Limit rings to one or two and choose smaller, classic earrings. A wristwatch is fine, if it&#39;s not too distracting. A thin&#160;gold-link necklace is a nice option for a professional look.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;5.&#160;Leave the&#160;holiday tie for the holiday party&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Depending on the position you’re applying for or the company culture, you may or may not need to wear a tie. For most positions&#160;it&#39;s unnecessary, unless if you’re interviewing for a job in law or banking. If you do wear a tie, make sure&#160;it isn&#39;t too bold or distracting. A classic striped or solid tie will do the trick.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;A final note&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Video interviews are part of the new normal. Dressing intentionally will help you appear more credible and professional—and get you into the right&#160;frame of mind. When it comes to video interviews, remember this golden rule: The focus&#160;should be on you, your skillset, and why you’re the perfect fit for the job, not on what you&#39;re wearing.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mariam Simmons is a trendsetter at Alpine Swiss and a business fashion enthusiast with a love for writing. She loves traveling to the world’s top stylish destinations, and gets inspired to create helpful business fashion and lifestyle guides.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Mariam Simmons

Article

What to Wear to Appear More ‘Trustworthy’ and ‘Authentic’ in Zoom Meetings

How to Dress for Video Interview Success

Employers

Schools

Vault Gold

Careers

Blog

Vault Law

Contact Us

Help Center