Dressing for an interview

I am 57 years old and getting out there interviewing again for an admin job.

I live in the bay area and its getting very hot here. Is it old school to have to always wear a suit or can you wear a nice skirt or slacks with a top and lightweight summer jacket?

First impressions count at an interview. I would wear a light-weight summer suit, but certainly once you got the job a nice skirt and slacks as you describe would be fine. When you go for the interview you have no idea what their company policy is for dress code, so it is better to err on the side of caution with a suit.

As an older administrative professional I also suffer from hot flashes at work and it is always a challenge to find something to wear that will work. I wrote an article on my blog called Hot Flash: Working With Your Internal Temperature Turned Up.

Here is the link if you would like to read it:
secretaryhelpline.blogspot.com/2008/05/hot-flash-working-with-internal.html

All the best in your job search,

Patricia
secretaryhelpline.blogspot.com/

Thank you Patricia for your advise. I'll have to go shopping and find a light weight-suit this weekend.

I was reading some of your stuff on your blog. Now that I have some free time, I'll have to read some more. Very good tips in there.

I was watching Rachel Ray this morning and she had a guest talking about body language when interviewing.

They had a 25 yr girl looking to get into the fashion industry.

I dont know if anyone watch it but she had on black slacks, white blouse and a pink pull over sweater over the blouse.

I've seen this before at companies where these young girls just dress casual (not even have a nice little jacket on) and guess thats why I started this post in the first place and still wondering I'm I dressing to old (with a nice updated suit) for these younger people that I'm interviewing with?

admin in Bay Area, California said: I was watching Rachel Ray this morning and she had a guest talking about body language when interviewing.

They had a 25 yr girl looking to get into the fashion industry.

I dont know if anyone watch it but she had on black slacks, white blouse and a pink pull over sweater over the blouse.

I've seen this before at companies where these young girls just dress casual (not even have a nice little jacket on) and guess thats why I started this post in the first place and still wondering I'm I dressing to old (with a nice updated suit) for these younger people that I'm interviewing with?

I would still wear a light-weight suit. I am tall and I hate to be towering over the people I interview with, so I wear reasonable heels.

Wish you all the best.

Patricia
secretaryhelpline.blogspot.com/

I don't even have a nice suit! The last three jobs I've had have all been casual dress codes, and when I say casual I mean jeans! I guess I lucked out but now I realize I need to step it up, since the odds are I will be required to dress nicer at my next job. Right now it's HOT here in VA but I've been wearing hose, a nice black skirt with black pumps, and a 3/4 sleeve pullover summer sweater with a blouse underneath. Maybe that's why I haven't been hired yet.. sigh...