<\/span><\/h2>\nOne thing that has always confused people is the different terminology for the level of formality. What\u2019s the difference between business casual and smart casual after all? Well, it turns out quite a lot.<\/p>\n
Business casual is essentially just business formal (read: suits) without the tie and jacket. You\u2019re still expected to wear dress pants, shoes and shirts. Whereas smart casual is what you\u2019d wear to your grandmas birthday party. Smart, but you\u2019re probably wearing jeans and a nice shirt rather than suit pants and dress shoes.<\/p>\n
To complicate things further, the terminology and expectations differ hugely between countries. For example; if we compare Australia to the United States, we see that across the board there is more acceptance in Australia for casual wear with many offices getting rid of dress codes entirely. This is partly down to the weather making it impractical to wear layered suits all year round, but in a larger part is because of the more relaxed culture with regards to appearance.<\/p>\n
For those of you reading this in the US you know how appearance driven the country really is. Believe it or not, it isn\u2019t that bad in other countries. There often isn\u2019t the same judgement based on dress so employers may not require their staff to always put on a costume at work.<\/p>\n
<\/span>How social media impacts how we\u00a0dress for a job interview<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\nWith social media adoption at a higher level than ever we get a more rounded view of our friends and our idols. With this change in society it will be interesting to see how this affects office culture. It\u2019s possible that we will begin to recognise employees as other humans and understand that a suit shouldn\u2019t change how we think about someone. On the other hand, with celebrity-driven culture growing and people selectively sharing on social media, we could experience the opposite where we expect people to look perfect at all times on social media and in the real world.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s fascinating to examine the different dress codes of offices and when you do you come to the old chicken and the egg problem; what came first, the dress code or the culture? It depends. When we look at Silicon Valley I\u2019d argue that the dress code has almost become a symbol of defiance. It isn\u2019t corporate America and we\u2019re showing it. On the other hand we\u2019ve got people like lawyers where you want them to appear trust-worthy and responsible. You want to know they are capable and our society has driven through media the perception that suits equal trust.<\/p>\n
With more and more Wall Street scandals are we losing belief in the suit? Does it scream trust or scam? What do you think?<\/strong>