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I have been interviewing for various professional positions at my company and 80% of the applicants come in dressed in casual clothes like shorts, t-shirts and ball caps.
Can I decline to interview a potential new hire when they show up looking unprofessional and in casual dress?
Everyone employed at my company dresses professionally in shirts, ties and business suits.
If 80% of the applicants are not dressed as you want to require for the interview, you have a communication problem. Your interview invitations are failing to specify the interview dress code clearly enough.
There is a separate question of whether you should have an interview dress code at all. For someone who is not well fitted by mass produced or rented clothing, a business suit is a substantial expense. It is one that would be worth paying if they get a professional job that requires it, but should they be required to pay it on the chance of getting a job that requires it? They may end up in a job that favors more casual clothing, and never wear a suit on the job.
Can I decline to interview a potential new hire when they show up looking unprofessional and in casual dress?
If you are in charge of recruiting you can do whatever you want. Just, be careful of ditching your ace candidate just because he was unaware of the existence of a dress code for interviews.
If dress code was part of the requirements for the interview then it makes sense to reject them for something that was clearly indicated.
Perhaps there is a dress code in your company, but most likely it applies for current employees, and not interviewees. If candidates are to be expected to present themselves dressed by some code to the interview that should be indicated to them.
On a more personal note, I do believe that one should try to dress semi-formal to formal when going for an interview (white collar job, that is), and the fact that a candidate arrives well-dressed and cleansed is part of the first impressions.
However, the fact that someone is well-dressed or not is completely different to the fact that the candidate is fit for the job, or that he has the skills necessary for it. I'd suggest you focus on finding about those things before using dressing as a hiring factor.
If 80% of people are not meeting your expectations then your expectations are not aligned with what is normal in your your industry and location.
You have to decide if you want prospective employees to comply with your expectations or change your expectations to fit what is normal. If you have reasons for wanting people to dress up for interviews then you should tell them about this before the interviews. Remember that imposing a dress code will send a message to prospective employees about what you value so make sure something you truly think is important and be willing to be passed over by some talented people because of it.
If you have an obsession with suits, then I suspect your boss will not be happy missing out on 80% of the available talent. If you find 80% of candidates as unsuitable without even talking to them, then maybe you are not suitable for your position, suit or not.
Your problem comes down to two questions:
Yes, of course you can, but whether you are allowed to depends on your company's policy. In some companies, the future manager of a new hire can take the hire/no hire decision alone, in others it's decided by a committee, by HR or by the future manager and their superior. Find out what the policy is at your company.
Also, when multiple people are involved in a hiring decision, most companies have criteria for immediate rejection in case a candidate is obviously unsuitable. This usually applies in cases like not meeting certain minimum education requirements or deception - find out whether dressing too casually is enough for an immediate rejection or whether you still should go through the usual decision process.
As others pointed out, if 80% show up not meeting your expectations, then most probably your expectations have not been communicated successfully. You should discuss with your boss and or HR how to handle this:
You should carefully weigh the different requirements. On the one hand, a dress code can be beneficial if there are existing expectations around dress, such as from colleagues or customers (the typical example would be customer-facing positions in a bank or hotel). On the other hand, a dress code could scare off otherwise suitable candidates who find it too restrictive. Decide where on that scale you want to be.
Can I decline to interview a candidate that is not dressed for an interview?
Sure, if you think that dressing formally is a valuable trait and is one of the job requirements.
Should you decline though? Probably not.
I presume that the candidates meet your requirements on paper, right?
So if you have two stellar interviewees and are torn between choosing the right candidate but object literal coin tosses for whatever reason then you can choose to hire the guy that wore an untucked collared shirt with jeans instead of the guy that wore cargo shorts, camo shirt, and ball cap.
In any case if you do choose to hire someone that didn't meet your "dress code" then make sure to formally make them aware that there is a dress code and provide the relevant company documents which outline what is and is not acceptable. If you have no company document then your question as a whole is a moot point.
If you choose to immediately decline an interview due to their clothes then you had better have one heck of an explanation which does not open the doors to being sued for racism/sexism/ageism/suit-ism/whatever-ism.
You do not say what field you are in so it can be almost impossible to say.
For example, retail and manufacturing would not necessarily require more formal dress whereas IT should. Even then each employer could vary for example Google versus IBM.
Since you tagged this question as professionalism, I will assume business casual is the minimum daily dress.
I must say I am old school. My recommendation for anyone is to dress to impress. Do not wear a bankers suit to Walmart for a stocking poistion, but also do not dress as if stocking a shelf for a professional position. Even entry level retail sales positions require something more than shorts and a tee shirt. The advice is still the same. If you want the job, look like you want the job.
If someone is asking for a level of responsibility they should dress to reflect they are responsible. Walking in the door is the first major test. First impressions are important. Should you immediately reject someone who does not dress appropriately? That is up to your level of authority and policies in place.
As for not communicating expactions. Most of this is not rocket science. I wouldn't suggest explaining dress codes for job interviews. This is the responsibility of the applicant to either know or ask. You are not their nanny.
However, there may be another problem, where and how the position is posted. To take an extreme example, a position for a CFO should not be posted in Craigslist. I find that expectations are largely gleened when an applicant screens a job posting. No need to include professional attire in the job posting if the posting is clear about the position. Also consider the practice of not putting a company name in the posting. For example, Bob's Bedding Barn may have different expectations than IBM.
There are too many possibilities to know where to draw the line. I go back to whether you have the authority, what any policies say about interviews, and whether kicking them to the curb is something that legal can stomach. The 80% number is the fault of HR or whoever is posting open positions. It is the posting that sets the tone. You should not have to say professional attire for a professional position. If they ask, then tell them! And do not hold it against them for asking. One company told prospects not to wear ties or suits. Why? Because the interview process is stressful enough. Give them something to relax about.
Remember it is the responsibility of the applicant to land the job and not your responsibility to hold their hand if they cannot grasp the basics of landing a job. There is far too much help for them for that. Glassdoor and the like. Your job is simply to see if they measure up to expectations. Remember this is a test.
It's entirely up to you, but you have to communicate it to your interviewees ahead of time, as other answers stated.
Personally, I've stayed in business casual for my current job, then changed a few items to "up my game". Throwing on some shined shoes, a blazer/sports jacket, and a tie is usually "dressed up" enough for most interviews. It takes only a few minutes to do this in your car in the parking lot. Even if you swap your tan khakis for dark/black slacks in a gas station bathroom, it's still just a few minutes for a "make-over".
Even women can throw on a jacket over their dress, add a little makeup, spruce up their hair, change shoes, and throw on a necklace or earrings in a few minutes. Except for the makeup, it's also easy to change back for the current job afterwards. A little cold cream and a few more minutes in front of a mirror can deal with most of the makeup.
It's not totally unreasonable, but unless they are completely out of sorts (rips, stains, dirty, smelly) you should probably mostly ignore it. They may have a valid answer, like having to work construction (to pay the bills) until they get the job they went to college for.
I've been there, and people in that kind of situation usually can't afford to take even half a day off to suit up for an interview. They may even be embarrassed about their lack of choice, so please try to be kind.
If you have a multiple rounds of interviews, make sure you mention the dress code and see if they make a change. Sometimes a first round interview is taken as a "see what's out there", so it's not taken as seriously as later rounds. Then again, I usually slightly dress down for a 2nd round interview, by wearing a humorous tie, but that also depends on the atmosphere during the first round.
Someone in a less than desirable current job may decide that the 2nd interview is much more important, since you mentioned the dress code, and risk taking the half day off to dress up. Getting into a 2nd round interview often means much more, since the interviewee pool should have shrunk considerably and everything matters more. I use the humorous tie to bring out my personality more, since my resume and how I talk still says I'm a professional that really does know what I'm expected to know.
Then again, until recently, I only had two ties and I didn't want the interviewers thinking I had to re-wear the same exact "interviewing costume."
Also, don't forget Will Smith's character in "The Pursuit of Happyness". He showed up to an interview with paint in his hair, a "wife beater" T-shirt, and after a night in jail, and still managed to get an internship at a prestigious firm. When asked about what he would think of someone appearing at an interview with his appearance, he responded with, "He must have had on some really nice pants." Even though it was a film, it was based on a real life person, Chris Gardner.
https://sites.google.com/site/mencionticinglesheredia/scene-the-pursuit-of-happiness-transcript
If the job posting doesn't say anything about clothes requirement and the position on other companies don't usually have an strict clothes guidelines the problem lies there, you need to put that in the job posting if its such a big deal.
Personally I only went to interviews with nice clothes when I didn't had a job, and since then I went with what ever I usually wear where I work currently after all if I suddenly appeared at my current job with a suit people will start thinking that I have a job interview and that I want to get out of there.
If the person is destitute, I would interview them as is, and make it clear what the expected dress code is for employees. In the future, make it clear what you expect candidates to wear at an interview.
That said, even as a teenager, who grew up in a lower middle class home, I had the sense to ware business casual clothes while interviewing at Target just to get a job stocking shelves.
If the candidate’s attire doesn’t fit your “culture,” but they otherwise seem like a valuable addition to your team, then give them a little tour, allowing them to see (without you actually mentioning it) how most people are dressed. Then if they show up “underdressed” for the second interview, ask yourself which is more important: the work they can do, or their social awareness.
If your company has a dress code, it probably has other expectations, and informing prospective hires of those is courteous and useful. Depending on the size of the company, you might do this by an information leaflet, or a paragraph in the letter inviting them to interview.
If they've been informed that the company has a dress code and chose to ignore that, it may influence your decision (I'd still suggest interviewing).
There are fields in which there's normally no dress code but occasions for smart dress. For example I work in academia, where a suit and tie means you're attending a graduation, on the receiving end of a viva, or being interviewed. Only in the first case is the dress code mandatory or universally followed; it's clearly stated then.
The detail in question I miss is: What is the usual and general dress code for the position the interview is organised?
Extreme case #1: CEO
In that case one shall expect that bussiness suit is unspoken mandatory code. In that case, interviewee dressed informally doesn't meet expectable criteria for the position.
Extreme case #2: Garage staff
In that case, on the other hand, the key criteria are interviewee's skills and their ability to repair cars. Informal clothes are expected and bussiness dress code is understood as overkill.
Truth surely lies somewhere in between. If the dress code is Mandatory to your workplace then decline them as you wish. Same if the First Image is that significant to you.
If the dress code is not that strict in the industry and the targetted position rank you should be more tolerant at interviews but state your policies clearly.
It really comes down to what the job is. If you're interviewing for a janitor then having people suit up (regardless of your companies dress culture) is pointless. But if you're interviewing for an engineer job then it would make sense to the applicant to suit up. And if they are interviewing for an educated job and rock up in a tee and a ballcap then you probably can dismiss them as too arrogant thinking they are the next Steve Jobs and rules dont apply to them or they are basement dwellers with no idea how society works.
In the end it is about respect to the process and the interviewer.
