Can You Wear Jeans to a Job Interview?

What would happen if you showed up to a job interview wearing jeans? Would it be such a turn off to the interviewer that you’d not get the job?

Are there any situations where you can show up to a job interview and wear jeans and get away with it?

And is it something that you should risk doing? What if you don’t have professional clothes for the interview?

Lot’s of good questions and they deserve to all be a answered. So, let’s jump into this

Are Jeans Unprofessional for an Interview?

The easy answer is yes. If you are interviewing for a corporate role, and you show up dressed in jeans, it’s unprofessional.

Now, if you are not interviewing for a professional role, then it doesn’t matter. Nursing and other medical work does not require professional dress.

And if you are looking to work in retail, then again, that’s not something that requires you to show up dressed in business casual or in a suit.

But if you want to work in an office, then you should not wear jeans to the interview. It will reflect really poorly on you.

I’ve covered other clothing issues before (such as whether or not you can wear sneakers to a job interview, or if you can show up in a hat or sandals).

It’s commonly understood that if you show up to an interview wearing jeans, then you are not a professionally aware person. It’s simply seen as a sloppy or non-chalent way to act.

Even if you’re someone who could handle the work, the fact that you would show up to an interview wearing jeans indicates that you don’t respect the conventions of formal job interviews.

For someone who is looking to work for a corporate firm, showing up to the interview wearing jeans is one of the worst things that you can do. It signals that you’re not a serious candidate.

As I’ve covered in prior articles, there are lots of things that can result in a recruiter not responding to you or a hiring manager ghosting you. These include poorly written cover letters or objectives, resumes with inappropriate details, or the way in which you conduct yourself during the interview

The Role Matters: Retail vs Office

Before we go any further, let’s make a clear distinction between different types of job interviews.

Because, depending on the job, there are different protocols on interview outfits.

If you are looking to work in a corporate setting, then it’s important that you show up well dressed for the interview. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to wear a suit, but it does mean that should wear business casual clothing.

On the other hand, if you’re in the medical field, or working retail, then you do not have to follow the same stringent rules that professionals have to.

Medical workers such as nurses and other techs that work in a hospital for instance, are people who wear uniforms to work. It’s not expected that they have professional business attire since that is not part of their profession.

Likewise, retail workers don’t have to wear suits to work (unless they work at a high end store or a suit retailer like Suit Supply or another high end clothing retailer).

So, as a baseline, it goes something like this:

Professional Office Roles – Require Business Attire for Interview

Medical and Retail Workers- Jeans are acceptable for interviews.

Labor Workers – Jeans are not advisable. Khakis and Chinos are preferred.

Anyone who is looking to work in a professional setting, or a manual labor or skilled labor role (such as a building superintendent or electrician) should wear khakis

Are Black Jeans or Dark Wash Denim Ok To Wear?

Black jeans or dark wash jeans are preferable to light colored jeans if you are going to wear jeans to an interview.

And more than color, the fit of the jeans is important. You don’t want to wea baggy jeans on an interview.

In some respects the fit is just as important as the color of the jeans.

The basic rule of thumb that you should follow is that you should wear dark wash jeans that are slim fit.

You don’t necessarily need to wear skinny fit, but slim fit is definitely preferable to anything that’s baggy.

So, for color and fit what I would suggest you do is wear dark wash jeans and make sure that they are slim fit. But, again, if you are interviewing for a corporate position, then you are best advised to stay clear of any sort of outfit that has you wearing jeans.

The general advice that I’d give everyone who is interviewing for a corporate role is to avoid wearing jeans.

Jeans are casual, and you don’t want to appear casual in your interview.