Dress Codes for work

[BJCooperIT]

As a consultant I have sometimes encountered difficulty adhering to my consulting firm's dress code. My company wants me to appear professional at all times. This means no jeans or sneakers, preferably business suits and dress shoes.

This can be a problem at a client site that is casual. My case in point is my current contract. I sit at a desk that is right in the middle of a laboratory. The people here have a standard to wear pants and long sleeve tops. This translates to jeans/slacks along with simple shirts, mostly older clothes so that the loss of an article of clothing is not a big deal if a chemical is spilled.

Enter me. Suit jacket, silk top, dress slacks, jewelry, perfume, etc. Eyebrows are raised and the first thought they have is "Who is she trying to impress?" Thereafter follows resentment. If I need to have these folks on my side it is a bad start. Some consulting firms allow you the option of dressing at the level of your clients, but some do not. Has anyone else encountered this problem?
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[TomKane]

Not exactly. Our company has casual Friday but I don't really bother with it - I wear the suit five days a week. I think once you get into the thick of things with the work that other stuff will probably be forgotten.

 

[DonQuichote]

I suggest talking about this with your employer. I do not think it would be much of a problem to adapt to other companyies' dresscodes. I have worked a lot at mechanical companies as a technical draftsman. If you wear a suit there, you communicate "I won't go to the workfloor". So I did not wear a suit.

If you must wear a suit, ask for a laboratory jacket to wear on top of it. Then you really make an impression. ;-)

Best regards

 

[sleipnir214]

If this were a case of your working in a client's business office, I think TomKane's advice might be right. But it sounds to me like you are working in a light industrial arena, and your company may have to make allowances.

Discuss this with your supervisor at the client location and with your supervisor at your company and see if there isn't some middle ground here.

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[BJCooperIT]

My current company expects me to get the job done in a professional manner & has no written dress code. I have managed to dress the part without offending the users, except for that first day. I would wear a lab coat if the client had one to give me, but since they don't, I wear the suit jacket but tone down all other aspects of the outfit.

When I was a part of IT staff, I saw staff members who were very casual and who were not allowed near the users. There also seems to be a penalty for not dressing the role. I once worked with a systems programmer who wore a t-shirt with a printed tie on it to staff meetings. He claimed it was the only tie he owned!

Perhaps we are perceived as something less than professional by those who judge more than just our performance.
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[CajunCenturion]

Like it or not, you are judged as the total package.

Professionalism is much more then performance. It also includes appearance, attitude, demeanor, conformance to standards, and not mention respect for the customs and procedures of the client, regardless of what those standards are. You should be able to approach your supervisor in that being professional implies honoring the standards of the client, and that would or could include not overdressing from the client's standard. Good Luck
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As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[KornGeek]

I always try to get a feel for the dress code before I begin working in a company. On your first day (and probably first month), you can generally get away with dressing a little nicer than the dress code. Once you've got them viewing you for you and not your clothes, you can then adjust your clothing to what you desire.

Some general rules of thumb that I've found useful:
1) NEVER dress below their standard of dress. (Should be obvious.)
2) If you get feedback (positive or negative), listen to it and adjust as necessary.
3) If a company has a casual dress code, there is often a reason for it (due to work load). Keep in mind that what is appropriate for one department may not be for another.
4) If you completely overshoot with your appearance, feel free to joke about it. Let them know that you are representing another company that wants you to look professional, even if you'd rather dress the way they do.

I once went on an interview for a software testing position. As with all interviews, I wore a tie and dressed nicely. I was told by one of the interviewers that if I ever wore a tie in to the office, they would cut it off. I laughed and explained that I dress appropriately to the situation, and I felt a tie was appropriate for an interview. When I got the job, I wore nice jeans and a solid-colored T-Shirt. That's what was appropriate "professional" attire in their software test environment.

 

[Kjonnnn]

I work in a light industrial company. My first week I dress as I would at my former "downtown" corporate job.

I messed up all my clothes that week cause Im in the ceiling, crawling on the floor, picking up inkky cheap printers.

So now Im jeans and shirt. Much like the rest of the company.

Talk it over with your company. If they still want u dress to the nines, try to get a compensation for clothes messed up by you doing your job, and chemical spills.

 

[algernonsidney]

This is one of the problems with being a consultant--or more accurately a prostitute. Your pimp wants you to dress nice, but your customer wants to dress less so.

If you never see the pimp, I would wear what the customer wants. If the pimp is around, wear what the pimp wants.

Personally, I would find a new pimp. I would also try to get a job with an actual company working as an full-time employee.

I worked as a hotel receptionist for almost three years and got exactly one comment on my clothes during that time. When I worked at the dirtiest place I had ever work (and half the building wasn't A/C'd), I got a comment on my clothing about once a month or more. It depends on the employer. I would find a new one.

Chris

 

[BJCooperIT]

I have no problem with my current company. They have never even broached the dress code issue. However my last employer was a different matter. They had a detailed dress code over 3 pages long! I have never seen anything like it. From the appropriate material, type of slacks, type of collars, condition (no worn, torn, stained), shoes must be polished, hem length, "no denim" mentioned 3 times - it was overwhelming. Basically it said to always dress one notch above the client - period. They also were the company who were the first to lay you off if you were on the bench for 2 weeks. Guess that wasn't important as long as you looked classy in the unemployment line!

I, personally, love consulting. I despise being a maintenance programmer - no offence intended, just not for me. I love the challenge of being on a team who tackles a new project (outsourcing, the wave of the future?). I am constantly learning new business applications and am exposed to new technologies that I probably would not be able to learn if working on staff at a private company. I meet new people and learn new techniques regularly.

Do I feel like a prostitute? Absolutely not. I am an employee of a consulting firm who pays me well for my time. They bill the client & the client pays them. How is that any different than working for the IT department of some company where they charge back my time to the department whose application I am working on?
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[sleipnir214]

BJCooperIT:

algernonsidney's post indicates to me that he has as dim a view of consulting as you do of maintenance programming. This may be coloring his opinion.

I still advise you to bring your concerns up with your boss.


The wife of my boss at my last employer works at the Mary Kay Cosmetics headquarters in Dallas, TX. The introduction to their dress code runs three pages. Hell, even the building maintenance guys have to wear coats and ties! But I suppose in their case, it's kind of understandable -- after all, they are in the business of appearance.

Any company that is as concerned about appearances as the company you described is too concerned about appearances. Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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[algernonsidney]

Working for a company is quite different. When you are working for a company, you are treated as though you are a part of a team. When you are consultant or a prostitute, you are always in a position to be thrown away on the whim of the moment. You are not an employee ever--you are merely a server who serves someone else.

Chris

 

[LesleyW]

Re: Mary Kay Cosmetics dress code

I read once that the president/founder, Mary Kay,

*always wore skirt with tights (pantyhose) in the office, even if she was just popping in on a sunday to pick up files

*decided to give up her beloved hobby of gardening, in case one of her employees should pass her house and see her in grubby gardening gear.

I thought that was WAY over the top myself! and it always stuck in my head (and my throat).

Reress codes and consultants

I work as an employee in a firm where we use consultants and contract programmers. It seems to me that the contract programmers dress one notch above the employees (who dress casual), and the consultants maybe 2 notches. I dress extremely casual on a day to day basis, but smarten up to a business suit to conduct interviews or for first meetings with external clients and suppliers.

If I were a consultant I would definitely wear a business suit for the first day, then adjust down accordingly.

algernonsidney's posts on this thread leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. I think you are being very disrespectful of BJCoopers' position and feelings. The words you use do not belong on this forum.

 

[algernonsidney]

My brief stints working in the capacity as a "consultant" left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I know very little about BJCooper, and I was not intending to make a judgment of him. He is in an obviously difficult situation.

I was working on a Year 2000 project back in 1999 at a hospital. I was sent out on-site just like him and was doing a great job. Life was going great at the time. For reasons which I will never understand, I was thrown off that project. My supervisor just came down to the site and told me that we were going back to the shop. I ended up doing production work (building PC's), and they didn't send me on-site anywhere.

I left that company a month later and at the time vowed never to do customer service again. That was when I basically decided that customer service was "prostitution." I simply realized that my career is too important to allow this kind of garbage to get in my way.

It was easy in the hotel business. All I had to do was what people asked me to do. I enjoyed working with customers and people. I figured doing computer work with customers would be a breeze, but I was completely wrong.

Chris

 

[BJCooperIT]

I appreciate the input all of you have taken the time to post. I have been able to kick my dressing level down a notch which still is above the client's but below most company standards. Part of my hesitance stemmed from a conversation that some employees were having regarding a seminar that was held to improve employee moral last year. They had a consultant come "dressed to the nines" who proceeded to tell them what to do and how to think. What followed was sheer resentment, after how could this over-dressed stranger relate to their working environment?

Upon reflection there was probably no way for me to anticipate or ask how to dress appropriately on my first day here. No one knew that the laboratory manager planned to put the contractor in charge of the data conversion in the middle of his beakers and test tubes. Had he found office space for me to sit, I would have probably fit in better.

A bit off the subject of dress codes:
algernonsidney
"Working for a company is quite different. When you are working for a company, you are treated as though you are a part of a team. When you are consultant or a prostitute, you are always in a position to be thrown away on the whim of the moment. You are not an employee ever--you are merely a server who serves someone else"

How you are treated on a contract depends on many factors. Your company's reputation may preceed you, the client's previous experiences with contractors, personalities, etc. Not every experience is as bad as what you had to go through. I have had both good and bad receptions when I walk in the door, but I strive to represent myself and my company well. Most times I am gratified when I get comments like "We have never had a contractor who cared about our projects like you do!" or "I have never seen a consultant document their code so well!". I once was contracted to a cable TV company. Seven and 1/2 years later I was their senior developer with more seniority than any of their staff members. I find that if you act like part of the team you become part of the team.

We are all "servers" no matter who signs our paychecks. As far as being "thrown away" there are plenty of folks out there who have been an employee at 6:00am and been told to clean out their desk at 8:00am.
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[algernonsidney]

BJCooperIT,

I think everyone strives to represent themselves well. It's nice to hear you have good experiences. It sounds like you won't have many problems.

Chris

 

[sleipnir214]

algernonsidney:

<sarcasm>
<setup>
I think you may be using the wrong gender of pronoun when you refer to
BJCooperIT as &quot;him&quot;. I inferred the feminine pronoun from the
references in the original post of this thread to BJCooperIT's
wearing &quot;slacks&quot;, &quot;jewelry&quot;, and &quot;perfume&quot; on the job.
</setup>
<punchline>
Unless, of course, BJCooperIT's company has a really interesting
implied dress code.
</punchline>
</sarcasm>
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[BJCooperIT]

sleipnir214
How right you are...my husband would also be shocked! (select * from life where brain is not null)
Consultant/Custom Forms & PL/SQL - Oracle 8.1.7 - Windows 2000

 

[KornGeek]

sleipnir214,
thanks for the laugh.

I had also inferred tha BJCooperIT was female (I believe she stated so in another thread), but working in the computer industry in California, I've seen (just about) everything. In my first real job, I worked with a guy that was a woman by the time I left. I find it best to just not assume anymore.

 

[algernonsidney]

Actually, I wasn't using the wrong gender of pronoun. It is considered standard to use the male if one does not know.

With stuff like this, I am starting to wonder why I post here. It reminds me of some of the reasons why I tell people to get out of this profession.

Chris