The clothes we wear have a major impact on the first impression we send out, as one job candidate found out the hard way.
The job applicant showed up wearing shorts and was asked if she wanted to go home and change.
“I just got dress-coded during an interview,” Tyreshia Morgan explained. “They decided to reschedule the interview for tomorrow, but before they rescheduled, the lady was like, ‘Would you like to go change and then come back?’”
Morgan’s chosen interview outfit was a pair of tailored black shorts, a white top, and a white cardigan. She expressed a certain level of shock that the interviewer not-so-subtly asked her to change, saying, “I look very neat and professional.”
There are aspects of dress codes that might seem outdated, or like they function in a way to control how people, especially women, present themselves.
Various arguments defend having a professional dress code in a workplace, based on the idea that what employees wear reflects the credibility and trustworthiness of a company.
A 2023 study titled “Perceptions of Ethicality: The Role of Attire Style, Attire Appropriateness, and Context” took on the issues of how clothes function in a professional setting.
The researchers noted that casual apparel choices can reflect negatively on the employee, which then ripples out to how the company itself is perceived.
On the opposite end of the first-impression spectrum, professional attire is seen as one of the most important parts of shaping positive workplace perceptions.
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The idea of professionalism in the workplace is rooted in what the researchers referred to as “Signaling theory.”
A person’s decision to wear a certain style of clothing is a symbol or signal that conveys information about them to the rest of the world, including their values and social identity, which the researchers noted can affect their perceived ethicality.
Signalers are judged on how well they conform to the social norms of a given situation or environment.
The study categorized three main types of professional dress codes: Business formal, business casual, and casual.
Yet even when a workplace dress code is casual, shorts are usually on the list of what not to wear.
Wearing shorts could be considered inappropriate attire, showing that the job-hunter doesn’t have a strong understanding of corporate culture.
Another woman, Bianca, commented on Morgan’s experience, saying, “I know in my day, and I’m pretty sure currently, dressing that way is unacceptable for any interview.”
“I’ve never seen anywhere where shorts were acceptable to interview [in],” Bianca continued. “The fact that she is appalled that they wanted to reschedule her interview definitely says whatever position she was going out for, she’s not ready for.”
As younger generations age into the workforce, they’re pushing some very necessary changes to how corporate culture operates.
Gen Z is redefining what work-life balance means. They’re pushing up against outdated policies and generally questioning why the status quo is what it is.
There’s bound to be tension between generations when cultural norms are dismantled, yet as the woman’s interview experience highlights, the world might not be ready for shorts in the workplace, no matter how put-together her look was.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango’s news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture and all things to do with the entertainment industry.
