When Not to Wear a Hat?

[HarpPlayerGene]

When shampooing my hair. That's about it, I think.

 

[Woodfluter]

Such an interesting question that I've had to digest it for a while.

Mostly I agree with Randy's comments. And it is strange how hat wearing has gone from the norm to the fringe.

I'd say there is no right answer. It is part of a larger picture of custom and conformity. It is reasonable to make people comfortable, but there's also an issue of honesty versus posturing.

I'm sort of past the interviewee stage, but I've interviewed many candidates in the past and of course still deal with new clients. I do try to make the latter comfortable on initial impression, but not mislead. A delicate balance.

I think you have to ask yourself what you want to accomplish. You don't want to weird someone out to the extent that they don't appreciate your qualities, but you do want to be yourself and project integrity.

If wearing a hat is part of an image you are projecting, by all means leave it in the car. If it is natural and so much a part of you that you seldom leave the house without it, you will seem more real if you wear it. If that is off-putting to a potential employer, ask yourself how badly you need the job, for how long, and whether you really want to work for someone that shallow. Is Dilbert really happy?

Whatever you do in an interview, don't ever try to hide anything or become something you aren't - it will work with a lot of employers (including most managers) but a perceptive individual will spot it fast. Be yourself and do both the company and yourself a favor in the long run.

 

[Torpedo]

Hi,

Generally speaking, I am in favour of NOT wearing a hat to an interview.

There has been some talking about "being yourself" and even "not pretending to be something you are not". Frankly, I do not believe I am hiding who I am just by choosing to NOT wear my hat for work interview. On the balance, I DO believe that wearing the hat can put my prospects in jeopardy.

We are talking mostly of first impressions here, and these count. The interviewer will judge you because of this, in addition, of course, to your performance in the interview and your curriculum vitae. But wearing a hat is rare, so this mere detail may well colour the interviewer opinion so much as to outweight the rest. Unfair? Sure, but realistic.

I think is is better to leave the hat for later. If you are actually hired, then you can recover it - because at that time, they will have other elements of judgement. Even if you are actually perceived as "extravagant", "odd" , or "weird" because of the hat, the hat thing will be just an aspect of the whole, and if you are efficient and able, this will more than balance the quirks. Then you may well become "that competent guy in the bizarre hat habit", but this is something one can live with.

My two cents, anyway.

 

[gtdean48]

I am fairly close to Torpedo on my thinking. When I started my corporate career, my manager provided me a copy of "Dress for Success". These tips of dressing are in no reflection of who I am but are of what is expected by the conservative corporate establishment. In other words, to get ahead, you have to go along. You have to provide the product that is expected, especially with, as Torpedo stated, first impressions & get the job or land the business. After that, you can gauge how you let the real you come thru & at what degrees...

 

[deanglen]

A friend I know who works for a major corporation told me that if a guy was interviewed wearing, or bringing a hat to the interview it would be a minus. My feeling is, adjust to their expectations to get the job, then be productive and you can be a trendsetter later.





dean

 

[johnnycanuck]

I am known by everyone I have ever worked for, and with, as the guy that wears a hat every day. That said I have never gone to an interview with a hat on. I have always had the interview "uniform" of my profession on. Dockers, dress shirt and maybe a sports jacket. If I had a suit on I would not get the job (I know from experience) because people in my profession do not wear suits. An employer wants his employees to get along with one another and have new employees fit in with the rest of them. If you don't visually fit in, it gives the impression you will not socially fit in.
So no hats, I usually start wearing them on Fridays and start working them into the rest of the week.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Johnny

 

[Spats McGee]

I think you called it right, Gilgamark. For an interview, you need to give the prospective employer the impressions: (1) that you'll fit in; and (2) that you're competent. Those two are no in any order of priority, mind you. As johnnycanuck point out, if you don't fit in visually, it gives the impression that you won't fit in socially. Once you've landed the job, then you can start wearing a hat to work. First things first: get the job.

 

[jec]

As someone who has never had a 'real' job, I find this discusssion fascinating -although foreign.

I think it is entirely understandable to do what is necessary to make sure you forge the best possible first impression during an interview, and if wearing a fedora is going to place you out of the norm for that job, then leave it in the car.

Having said that, BOY, am I grateful that I don't have to deal with any of this!

As an artist, my work speaks for itself - and makes its own first impression. When I am approaching a new gallery, I will most often send images (slides, CD, printed material, etc.) before I meet the gallery director/owner in person. But I don't think I would hesitate to wear a hat on that first time I enter the Gallery; after all, we artists are expected to be a bit eccentric.

 

[Randy]

The only bad jobs I've ever had were the one's where I tried to give the prospective employer the impression that I thought they wanted - in my experience this is a recipe for trouble. I've been around for a bit now, and perhaps I just no longer care what people think, but my stance is that you will never please all of the people all of the time so you should please yourself and let others feel how they will. Unless a holding a hat when you meet someone professionally (in a conference room or office say) is against the corporate dress codes for some reason, I'd have no problem with it.

Honestly, as a manager, I would be far more suspicious of a person who showed up for an interview dressed one way and for work dressed differently. Changing who you appear to be once you have landed the job seems more dishonest to me than looking slightly different than the rest of the crowd all of the time, but again, that's just my take on it. As I stated above, I council always doing what you feel comfortable with...

- Randy

 

[gtdean48]

Almost all candidates show up in a suit initially so you can see how they present the "professional" image. Hardly ever see them like that if they get hired but you have to know if they can present the right product!!

 

[suitedcboy]

There is no one right answer to this.
Probably the least wrong answer is to go hatless to an interview because there is likely a greater chance that the hiring manager MIGHT think that to have worn and be carrying a hat is "weird". But there are a lot of people that will tell you that a person dressed mainstream nice and wearing a nice hat and holding that nice hat might be the thin that separates that person from a sea of "normal" applicants.
IT IS ALL SO CONFUSING!!!

There would be a regional aspect to consider. If it is cold and you are wearing an overcoat and a hat then by all means wear it. That would make you seem like a person who will take due caution and may be more likely to show up at work.

If I am the hiring person and you show up with a great lid then you have to be a total idiot to NOT get the job.

 

[avedwards]

I did post a thread on this a while ago entitled "Hat for a interview?"

My opinion is that if your are older (say 40+) people will accept that a hat is not really a fashion statement. (Note, I am not being agist to over 40s but hats were more common 40 years ago.)

But if a very conservative hat is worn like a plain dark trilby (stingy) which matches the suit you're wearing nicely, I think a hat could be worn to an interview. If it is done subtly people will not necessarily take it as a fashion statement.

Just my two pence (as we don't use cents here).

 

[ortega76]

There would be a regional aspect to consider. If it is cold and you are wearing an overcoat and a hat then by all means wear it. That would make you seem like a person who will take due caution and may be more likely to show up at work.

If I am the hiring person and you show up with a great lid then you have to be a total idiot to NOT get the job.

Good call on the weather aspect. Pouring rain, cold temps or snow seem to call for a lid of some type. Even in rain, a trench coat and fedora just looks better than a North Face shell and baseball cap when in a business setting.

fftopic: This is my 600th post. Whoa.

 

[MattJH]

Losing an opportunity here would be a high price to pay for insisting on wearing a hat.

Amen. Some people place far too much importance on wearing a hat. I understand the conformity vs. individuality debate, but we're talking about a job, and in turn we are talking about monetary income, health benefits, the direction of your professional life, and for those who are married and/or have children, we are also talking about the support of your family. I would never even conceive of risking my chance at landing a job, particularly in these tough economic times where available jobs are sparse, just because I want to wear a hat (or leaving in a septum piercing, or displaying a tattoo, or wearing my favorite pair of outlandish sneakers, or wearing a kilt, and so on).

The way I see it: if you're bothered by the very principle of your personal fashion sense being offensive to a potential employer, then your priorities are drastically different from mine so much so that I don't understand the opposing view. Jobs aren't for expressing yourself, jobs are for collecting a paycheck. An employer can get to know you just fine on a professional level without knowing whether or not you wear hats. In fact, there is no reason why your potential employer needs to know that you wear hats at all. S/he isn't your friend or your relative. Job interviews are not the time or place to make a fashion statement or express individuality. Interviews are supposed to be about what you know and what you can do; they only begin to be about superficial things like what you're wearing when you force it to be so, and then the employer is going to be distracted by whatever they'll find "odd," and likely not in a positive way.

I understand that the above could be read in an abrasive tone, but it's not my intent, I just don't know any other way to express my sentiment that the "Career vs. Hat" battle has the same outcome for me every single time -- career by knockout in the first second of round 1. Any other outcome seems ludicrous unless you're fortunate like jecoe and have enough artistic talent to live off of it. For the rest of us, we have to dress the part, and not every part in 2009 has a place for a hat in it.

The only place for a hat I can think of in an interview is part of your answer when the potential employer asks you what your hobbies are. This may be a good time to put a read on them to see how they react to your penchant for hat collecting and wearing. Otherwise, it's all business for me.

 

[carldelo]

Yep, what he said...

Amen. Some people place far too much importance on wearing a hat. I understand the conformity vs. individuality debate, but we're talking about a job, and in turn we are talking about monetary income, health benefits, the direction of your professional life, and for those who are married and/or have children, we are also talking about the support of your family. I would never even conceive of risking my chance at landing a job, particularly in these tough economic times where available jobs are sparse, just because I want to wear a hat (or leaving in a septum piercing, or displaying a tattoo, or wearing my favorite pair of outlandish sneakers, or wearing a kilt, and so on).

The way I see it: if you're bothered by the very principle of your personal fashion sense being offensive to a potential employer, then your priorities are drastically different from mine so much so that I don't understand the opposing view. Jobs aren't for expressing yourself, jobs are for collecting a paycheck. An employer can get to know you just fine on a professional level without knowing whether or not you wear hats. In fact, there is no reason why your potential employer needs to know that you wear hats at all. S/he isn't your friend or your relative. Job interviews are not the time or place to make a fashion statement or express individuality. Interviews are supposed to be about what you know and what you can do; they only begin to be about superficial things like what you're wearing when you force it to be so, and then the employer is going to be distracted by whatever they'll find "odd," and likely not in a positive way.

I understand that the above could be read in an abrasive tone, but it's not my intent, I just don't know any other way to express my sentiment that the "Career vs. Hat" battle has the same outcome for me every single time -- career by knockout in the first second of round 1. Any other outcome seems ludicrous unless you're fortunate like jecoe and have enough artistic talent to live off of it. For the rest of us, we have to dress the part, and not every part in 2009 has a place for a hat in it.

The only place for a hat I can think of in an interview is part of your answer when the potential employer asks you what your hobbies are. This may be a good time to put a read on them to see how they react to your penchant for hat collecting and wearing. Otherwise, it's all business for me.

I was going to say what DJ said, but as he said it first and better than I would have, he saved me the trouble. It's a job, not a collection of new best buddies who need to accept the real and bona-fide "you". If you're lucky, you'll be able to wear your hat to work later with only the usual good-natured but clueless remarks from co-workers. This is why I like academia - a little eccentricity is OK - but I never wore a fedora as a structural engineer....

 

[Big Man]

I must be missing something. After all, it's just a hat. What's the big deal?

I wear a hat and a suit (almost exclusively a three-piece). To me, anything less isn't "dressed for business". Of course that's me. I understand what works for me may not (probabally doesn't) work for others.

I'm over 50 years old and am planning retirement in a couple months (I've been working the same job for 30 + years now). My plan is to goof off for several months, then look for another job and work a couple more years. When it comes time to interview for the next job, I will wear a hat - just like I do every day. We'll see if it makes a difference ...

 

[MattJH]

I must be missing something. After all, it's just a hat. What's the big deal?

What's interesting is that this statement can be said by both sides of this friendly debate with exactly opposing but equally valid meanings.

 

[matei]

When we first moved to London, I went on three job interviews - and I wore my hat to all of them. I also managed to get all three... I think it is about wearing the hat, rather than letting it wear you.

I didn't wear the hat during the interview - as other people posted earlier - you take the hat off when you go in the building.

Some people chose styles that just don't suit them, and that could be off-putting to a potential employer. Likewise, perhaps the hat is the wrong size, or their hair is too long, and the person ends up with a major case of "hat hair" when doffing their lid. The whole package has to work.

 

[Big Man]

... I didn't wear the hat during the interview - as other people posted earlier - you take the hat off when you go in the building. ...

Exactly. This is what I was referring to when I said earlier that I must be missing something. What difference could it possibly make if a had a hat (or not) when I went for the interview? Now, if I had the hat on during the interview (assuming the interview were inside), well then sure.

 

[MattJH]

Exactly. This is what I was referring to when I said earlier that I must be missing something. What difference could it possibly make if a had a hat (or not) when I went for the interview? Now, if I had the hat on during the interview (assuming the interview were inside), well then sure.

People are strange. They may see you through the window walking from your car to the front door wearing a fedora, and unless they're, for instance, me, it's going to stand out in their heads as "the guy who wore the hat" with an odd note to it rather than an admirable one, and sometimes it'll matter to them as far as hiring or eliminating you. It's a small risk, but one I wouldn't dare take when it comes to employment. It's just not worth it.