I have an upcoming interview with a company’s senior finance team. The website itself says the company has no strict dress code and is family-friendly.
is it a good idea to wear formal interview outfit then( either black gray or navy)?
And I will bring notepad. But when shall I use it? I always bring pen and notebooks to interviews but I never used them…
Be formal for good measure.
Right. Thx!
And I have another question.
I read an article on the internet saying it shows your interests if you take notes during an interview. For example, you ask your potential supervisor what would the biggest challenges for this position be and you take notes for his/her replies…
I have never done this but Is this a recommended thing to do given you are interviewing for a position that is in line with your long-term career objective?
I think this is a good idea cuz when I send the thank you letter later I can brifely mention how my skills can be used to tackle this challenge.
Dress formally. Defintiely bring a pen and a pad for notetaking. It’s just the professional thing to do and shows the employer you’re interested and paying attention.
Also gives you things to mention in your follow up thank you letter, as you mentioned.
Do yourself a favor and absolutely come with a suit and tie to your interview (isn’t this common sense?).
If they are laid-back, they won’t look down on you because you dressed up. But if they are like 95% of employers, not dressing up could be a no-go.
About taking notes: I think it makes sense to take notes about stuff they tell you that you didn’t already know, like for example, that they are increasingly active in x industry, or that 2/3 of their deals are bonds, or that they are witnessing appetite in the market for y.
In the end it all boils down to what you discuss in the interview. In my last interview, I had researched deals they had done and asked some pretty specific questions because I was genuinely curious about some stuff. So it was very natural that I take some notes.
Of course I think it would look a bit foolish to write down stuff like “they are looking for a team-player” or whatever.
Good luck to you.
yes
I believe she’s a female.
When I interviewed for my first job with a Big 4 firm, the confirmation letter said business casual, so I just wore dress pants and a button down. The other people interviewing sood there in their $150 mens warehouse suits looking at me like I had lost my mind. Little did they probably know that I looked better in “business casual” then they did in badly fitting suits. I just followed the instructions…also people at accounting firms generally dress like complete sh*t.
Generally I agree though and go formal. For my current job I wore my best suit to the interview.
haha. Did you get that job eventually?
Yes I will wear my suit skirt from Tristant…the good side about decent and expensive business suit is that one can wear that for most interviews…
Thank you very much! 
Yes I am. 
the ONLY time I didn’t wear a suit or tie to an interview was for my current job lol.
but in my case my boss/interviewer told me to dress casually for it. from my experience w/ him before I figured he wasn’t kidding so I just went in a dress shirt and chinos.
I even dressed in a suit for my interview as a retail associate with jcrew back in freshman year of college lol
Even If they say business casual, you go formal for the interview.
Its not so much about following thier insturctions, Its about respect. Looking your best shows them you care about wanting the position and want to make an impresssion. When I go on interviews its always suit & tie, haircut, manicure. And don’t forget about the shoe shine.
Think about ti this way: if it comes down to two candidates who are identical in all aspects except one looked like they just rolled out of bed and the other came in a suit and tie, who do you think they would hire?
But the funny thing is we go through this, and at the end of the day the HF I’m at is casual dress code. 
Hmm. It occurs to me that I don’t own any chinos.
Yeah, I did. Got the phone call that very day.
In response to your last part, there is a big difference between your two options. If faced with a choice between a smartly dressed person in slacks and a nice shirt and a guy in a badly fitting suit, I’ll pick the former. It’s easy to look cheap and not well put togther if you’re wearing a bad suit. Also, we tend to hire/like people who are similar to us. A guy who got hired wearing a sh*tty suit would probably prefer the guy in the sh*tty suit.
Although my examples were extreme, my point was that aesthetics can be a deciding factor if all other variables are identical… be it bad fitting suit vs tailored, or wrinkled dress pants and button down vs freshly pressed dress pants an button down.
On that note there is no excuse for an ill fitting suit. Even an off the rack POS from a department store can look good with proper tailoring. Cheap material can be easily overlooked with a proper cut and drape. Same goes for dress pants and dress shirts. If you are on the job hunt, spend the money and get one solid outfit tailored as your interview “uniform”. Properly tailored clothes also feel as good as they look and your confidence will increase becasue of it.
Some seriously high standards here. All suits look the same to me…
Don’t sit there taking notes the whole time. I’d bring the paper/pen (and copies of your resume and the job description!!!) but don’t appear to be paying more attention to your paper than the interviewer. Maybe right down an occassional take away, but if you leave with a page of notes, you clearly weren’t focused on selling yourself.