This post may contain affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
We're liking this great black and blue silk/cashmere scarf from Ann Taylor. We love the colors, as well as the fabric blend — and we like that the fringe at the ends is minimal. It's $58 at AnnTaylor.com. Abstract Print Luxe Scarf (L-0)
J
As much as I love scarves, are they really a spring and summer accessory? I should mention that it’s nearly 80 here in Houston (home of the year-round flip-flop). It’s a lovely scarf, though.
jcb
Yeah, probably not so much in Houston! It’s more like 50s-60s, occasionally the happy 70s in Chicago, so scarves are useful when you don’t want to wear a big jacket but the whipping wind can be chilly.
divaliscious11
Agreed. I have become a scarf-onista since moving to the midwest. they are the extra warmth in the fall and spring when you don’t need something heavier, particularly the days that begin and end in the 50’s but are 65-70 mid afternoon.
anon
Yes! Scarves are year-round accessories, especially if you work in an office the AC is always on.
Plus if your scarf is long enough, it can disguise a poochy belly too!
Shayna
It does seem incongruous… even here in NJ as it hits the 70s to start wrapping something around my neck…
meg
Question about scarves – I have a large-ish chest, and feel like wearing them just emphasizes my chest area. Something about either ending right at my chest or falling off it like a “cliff”. However, I really like the look on my flatter friends, so if I’m wrong, I’d like to experiment. Am I right in thinking this, or just being overly self-concious?
K
I’m well-endowed (far too much for my own tastes, thanks). I do wear scarves like that, but I don’t fold them over as is shown in the AT scarf picture. I wear them unfolded and knotted — I think (hope) the longer vertical lines lengthen me. But I am also in a business casual environment–I wouldn’t wear that look at court.
ACE
I wear them the same way bc I too have the same problem
Shayna
I’ve worn scarves in the winter for the same reason — that and they make my long sleeved black shirt l0ok much dressier ;-)
Eponine
I have a very large chest and I wear scarves all the time. I don’t think that scarves draw attention to my chest, but if you feel that they do, you could just try different styles of scarves and different ways of tying them. My favorite scarf tying guide is here: http://www.texeresilk.com/cms-scarf_tying_guide.html
KH
When I wear solid tops that don’t have any drape or detail around the color I sometimes feel too exposed – that they details of my curves are more apparent than i would like. An oblong scarf doubled and tied seems to serve as a camoflage distraction and makes me feel more comfortable.
My personal tying trick: Put the middle of the scarf in front of your chest and bring the ends behind your neck and back around. Tie one corner of one end to a corner of the other end, using a tiny knot. THEN, tie the other corner of one end to the remaining corner of the other end, capturing the other section of the scarf between the pairs of knots. Depending on how soft the fabric is, I may not even have to turn the whole thing around so the knots are in the back, but in any case, the result is a lot of graceful gathers, no bulky knots, and a scarf that won’t come undone all day.
But I agree, scarves “feel” wrong in the summer, regardless of how cold the AC is.
myohmy
Posted this on today’s TPS before realizing it might be more visible on the latest post, so sorry to those of you that had to read it twice!:
Side question? I *finally* got a nibble on the many resumes I’ve been sending out in my college grad search for permanent employment. Unfortunately, the nibble is to ask for “work samples, particularly related to your social media work.” Unfortunately, any “work samples” I could send out (mostly powerpoints/project plans) are proprietary data of the companies I work/worked for, and at least for the one where I do have a substantive body of work, they sat us down at the end of our internship to give us a stern lecture on how we could NOT share such information with prospective future employers. Ie, it’s fine to say, I helped develop XYZ plan which brought Company X over $15K in revenue, but I can’t send them the ppt with the project plan + details, specific revenue breakdown, etc. I understand that, it’s protecting their business secrets.
However, I cannot think of ANYTHING that could serve as a work sample that I wouldn’t be giving away semi-illegally (and I’m not comfortable doing that). What do I do? Do I email them and tell them that?
J
Is there any way you can redact the sensative data while leaving the general outline? or take the outline and just fill in fake names and revenues? [sorry, don’t know much about social media work, but I am an expert redacter :) ]
myohmy
Someone had asked about that at our meeting and they said no, even the layout and design of the slides (which is really not relevant to what this company is asking for, I suspect) is owned by them and not to be given out under any circumstances. I emailed my previous supervisor to check but I have a feeling they will say absolutely not. But yeah, I think they are typically interested in just the general plans, I am just unsure if I’m at liberty to share those plans. I think they’re asking because they assume as an intern I wasn’t really involved in any longterm, important stuff, but in fact, it was almost all I worked on and since this company is a competitor, I also just feel icky about sharing in deep detail.
I’m considering building a new document that has screen shots from FB pages/web media/other public info that I had a hand in and just giving a broad level explanation of the project and my role. That’s the only way I can think of not violating the law, which I certainly don’t want to do.
Eponine
I think the new document and screen shots is a good idea, but I also think that it would be reasonable to ask your former boss to provide a detailed, written reference for you explaining the projects you worked on and your level of skill and responsibility. I think that this would be fair, since it’s expected that an intern will use her experience to gain a position in the industry, but they’re effectively preventing you from demonstrating your experience by prohibiting you from sharing your work product.
North Shore
Can you redact or change your prior work, with the permission of the company? Take a work sample, change the important data, names, and anything else that would give it away, send it to your prior employer and ask if it’s ok for you to use it. They’ll probably send it to legal, but maybe in the end you’ll get permission to use it.
Eva
And in the meantime, I’d tell the prospective employer that you have work you are eager to share with them and you’re working with the former employer to redact sensitive information.
If the former employer takes a look at the redacted version and says no, I would explain the situation (“[former employer] has requested I not share my work product even with sensitive information redacted”) but offer to create an entirely new sample for the prospective employer based on their specifications.
Eponine
For my writing samples, I’ve changed names, locations and other possibly identifying details in memos I wrote that would otherwise be confidential, while leaving the legal analysis intact. I preface the sample with an explanation that this is not the original text and that all identifying information has been changed. This would not work if your work samples are related to extremely unique projects, but if it’s a fairly generic topic it should work for you.
anon
Glad to see the question above about writing samples, as I had a similar one come up recently. I work for a law firm and would like to provide a writing sample for an upcoming interview, but strongly suspect I should not provide anything written for a client without the firm’s permission (even redacted). But what do other attorneys think about using something that I’ve written that’s already been disseminated widely to clients? (e.g., update on new legislation or something general like that) I’d imagine that my firm’s official policy would be to still get their permission, but I can’t do that without disclosing that I’m interviewing, obviously. And while I’d love to provide a sample of something I’ve written for a client with identifying info redacted, I just don’t think I feel comfortable doing that — anyone else care to weigh in? My gut feeling on this is that law firms in general are very sensitive about this, so I should probably play it very safe.
Somewhat relatedly, can anyone tell me what I should wear to meet with a recruiter? I really don’t want to wear a suit, and it should be a quick meeting, so is a blazer good enough?
Thanks!
ChiLaw
For my writing sample, I used the meaty legal portion of a big motion, redacting out big sections of relevant facts and making notes of where I took stuff out. Even though the final document looked a little jumbly, the people who were looking at it definitely understood what was up.
Wrt the recruiter meeting, I’d wear a suit, unfortunately.
Amber
I also used a memo I wrote for a firm as a writing sample. I just checked with the attorneys and redacted the parts of it that were confidential.
I concur with ChiLaw about the suit, too.
Eponine
As I said above, I just redacted anything potentially identifying and cleared it with the higher-ups. Unless it’s a very unique case, no one will be able to identify your clients by the legal analysis alone.
Eponine
Oh, and I think you should dress to meet the recruiter a notch above what you expect to wear to work at the job you want. Or, in other words, wear a suit.
anon2
I don’t know, what if the job I truly *want* involves sitting around in a Hawaiian print shirt? while getting paid scads of money, of course. The saying to “dress for the job you want” assumes everyone wants the ultimate goal of a stuffy suit job.. Anyway not a comment to you, your advice is the standard advice, this is more of a general rant.. Maybe I should move to Silicon Valley or something.
newassociate
no hawaiian shirts at my silicon valley firm. still, if someone wears a blazer, everyone always asks “wow, where are you going?” many of the male partners wear button up shirts and jeans (not nice, dark jeans in good shape, but the kind with years of wear and fade). the rest of the male attorneys upgrade to button up shirts and dockers-type pants. slacks and sweaters are the typical outfit for the female attorneys.
Shayna
haha… this is so true! Maybe I should move to Silicon Valley as well!
Anonymous
Well, I guess what I meant is what you expect to wear at the job you want the recruiter to help you get. And I don’t think that the standard advice assumes everyone wants a stuffy suit job – I wouldn’t advise someone wanting a career in the fashion industry to wear a suit, for example, and I wouldn’t advise someone wanting to be a chef to just wear a chef’s hat until she gets the job. But in general I think corporate and legal recruiters expect to see business attire.
anon
but see, I can’t clear it with the higher-ups because I don’t want anyone to know I’m interviewing?? That’s the problem.
And grrrr about the suit. I think you all are right, but I’m not happy about it… guess I should just suck it up though.
Thanks everyone!
K
I would just wear whatever you are wearing to work. Recruiters will understand that you don’t want your current job to know. If you end up getting an interview then you can take the morning or afternoon off or whatever, if wearing a suit is not normal at your current job and they would suspect something.
I have gone to a recruiter meeting in a blazer, t-shirt and yoga pants before – I was still better dressed than the recruiter. (Also it was pouring down rain outside.)
Lawgirl
Don’t ask for permission. Give them a “sample” that uses a similar concept from your prior work but make it better, fresher, and show your talent. JMHO…
Eponine
If you don’t have something from a previous job that you can clear with a former boss, I’d just do what Lawgirl suggested.
Shayna
For a headhunter? Yes, but make sure your hair/makeup/etc. are in place (you don’t look like a slob) – they understand that you don’t want your current boss to know you’re interviewing… but if they think you normally look harried and unkempt then that’s a black mark against you.