What Workwear Mistakes Should Interns Avoid?
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.
What do you think are mistakes for workwear — if you're a summer associate, intern, or new hire? I saw an article titled something like “5 workwear mistakes your boss always notices,” and thought it might be an interesting discussion here, especially since we haven't had the discussion about what not to wear as a summer intern in a loooong time (2011!).
Facets of this that we've discussed: when skirts are too short, which shoes not to wear, when it's OK to show personality in your clothes, whether you really have to wear pantyhose in the summer, whether an intern should carry a $9000 handbag (although I believe Birkins go for $25,000-$35,000 on average now!), how to dress for a heat wave, and, of course, how to dress for work if you're curvy or busty. We've also done a general roundup of what not to wear to work.
{related: guide for summer associates}
Workwear Mistakes To Avoid At Your New Job
For my $.02…
Outfits that say you're more interested in your evening activities than your work during the day. I would tread very carefully with mini skirts, picnic-appropriate maxi skirts, and brunchy nap dresses… as well as a more athleisure heavy wardrobe that suggests you might be going to the gym or to a group sport after work. Bring clothes to change into, or run home to change after work.
Outfits that feel temporary or like you haven't planned for common work situations. I'm thinking of the office A/C here — it's often freezing at most offices in the summer! So plan for it by bringing something warm to keep at the office — this is a place where a cardigan, lady jacket, sweater blazer, blazer-as-separate, or even an office shawl can really shine. What looks kind of odd: sweatshirts or fleece jackets that look like they're better suited for a hike or a day of watching the game. (I'm sure some readers will say that they love their fleece and see no problem with it, but remember: there are different rules for student interns.)
Outfits that feel like you have never set foot in an conservative office, or are purposely being disrespectful. Be wary of things like athletic wear, shorts, flip flops, very scuffed up shoes or ripped denim, prom-like heels with rhinestones, and more.
More General Advice for Summer Interns
Some other old but still great advice from the commenters for interns from our 2011 discussion…
- be nice and respectful to EVERYONE, including staff
- don't take your shoes off under the conference table — yes, they can see you
- assume someone can always see your computer screen
- don't get wasted at company events
- don't date people at the office
- take a note pad and a pen with you *everywhere* — far better than to bring your phone to bring notes and then have people think you're not paying attention
- always say “hello” to others in your office, and introduce yourself if you encounter someone new
- beware of being too casual or friendly with superiors — even if they seem close in age to you, don't tell them how hung over you are! Another commenter put this as “recognizing ‘the line'”
- at business lunches, order something you can eat neatly with a fork (like short pasta or a chopped salad), avoid appetizers and desserts unless everyone else is going for it
- for the legal interns and summer associates: avoid using weird abbreviations that may have been useful in your law school outlines but sound weird in real life
- another one for the legal interns: “Never question or second-guess a partner or a senior associate on a conference call, in a client meeting, or in front of opposing counsel. Ever. Seriously.”
- in general, smile a lot and don’t say much unless asked
Check out the full post here, there are over 200 great comments.
Stock photo via Deposit Photos / alan poulson.
Don’t wear shorts in a professional office. Avoid attire that displays profanity or profane adjacent content (i.e., dress socks printed with “Let’s Go Brandon” are not acceptable, not even in a conservative office).
Don’t wear shorts, and make sure your heels are not so high or shoes are otherwise so uncomfortable that you cannot walk down the hall or out to lunch in them.
Leave off wearing attire that includes profanity or profane-adjacent slogans.
Thr fact that this even has to be said…
For some reason this year’s interns have been particularly fond of crop tops? Seeing the sliver of stomach in the office makes me so uncomfortable
I’m 30 and a frequent wearer of crop tops on weekends and I work in a casual office. However, anyone who wears a crop top or otherwise dresses inappropriately should be sent home.
The interns need to learn how to dress and act in an office.
Cold shoulder tops and dresses with waist cutouts make me cringe when spotted in the office.
Perhaps more importantly than a list for the interns: train the people who oversee the interns on how to approach this topic, and impress on them that as uncomfortable as conversations about improper office attire can be, they are a necessary part of having interns.
A lot of young people need help understanding the distinctions between “dressy” clothes and “office” clothes. This isn’t something you send them home for, but more something you coach them on.
I had a friend who wore her clubbing tank top with a blazer over it for presentation days.
If your friend is my age (38ish), we were definitely wearing blazers and peplum tanks to the bars so I understand her ways.
Yes, this. I teach college students, and this is just a distinction they don’t really understand.
There were outfits I wore as an intern I look back on and cringe. They weren’t outfits I would go to a club in but they were…not outfits I would wear to work now. Dresses that were more suited for dinner than work (think, the fit and flare dresses Gap had for years, but in slightly satin-y fabrics, not matte). I worked at a nonprofit so more or less anything went for clothes (I was probably overdressed often, tbh) and my boss was a man, so I just kinda figured it out over time.
That being said, I’m looking at outfits from when I started interning in 2014 and I’d…absolutely still wear some of them (many of them?) today. My style has not evolved all that much in 11 years. Shrug.
Oh man, I struggled with this as a student. I think it was an era when there was a fair amount of overlap between work and “going out” clothes, and my eye couldn’t tell the difference. Haha. So many too-tight Editor pants and pencil skirts…
It can be hard for those who didn’t grow up around adults who worked in professional office settings to figure out the nuances. Obviously something like profanity on a t-shirt reflects bad judgment, but I mostly see things like ill-fitting or slightly over- or under-formal clothes and can’t bring myself to judge for that. I could totally see myself at that age seeing a model styled in “workwear” in a top that skimmed the top of the pants and thinking it must be ok. Unless it’s egregious or a client-facing setting, I would probably let it go and give the benefit of the doubt that, like the rest of us, they’ll learn from observing their surroundings and adjust as they go.
Those of us who started our office jobs in the early to mid-aughts had a lot to work through! It took me awhile to figure out the nuances.
Honestly, HR would do them a favor for some of this with a recommendation or tip list as part of onboarding even if things aren’t strict policy. I had an employer who had a thing about closed-toe shoes. Even though I’ve certainly worked in environments that were more casual, it probably served me well as a newbie not to be wearing my summer hiking sandals or sky-high peep toes even if technically allowed. Whoever up thread mentioned the difference between casual and dressy in workwear is spot on. Honestly, that’s not even just an intern thing. As folks climb the ladder into management, it can still be a struggle to look the part. And there’s nothing worse than having to learn the lesson of fitting in the hard way. I was at a conference in Las Vegas a couple of years ago where our junior sales reps got in trouble for wearing leather leggings and (different individual) knee-high boots. While some of the senior folks were aghast, I personally was mad at their boss. It wasn’t an HR rule. He should have prepped them that some folks would be in suits and that it is better to dress more conservatively at educational meetings like that. A small bit of coaching in advance, paired with tips and etiquette for success when manning the booth, having dinner with a prospect, getting out of having a client push too many drinks on you, etc., goes a long way in being a mentor. Developing soft skills and navigating those sorts of demands is just as important, if not more, than learning the technical aspects of a job.
In what universe are knee-high boots not workwear? Were they white vinyl platform go-go boots or something?
You’re showing your age, but yes, 25-30 years ago, it was absolutely frowned upon to wear knee-high boots in formal office. If you lived somewhere that you might commute in them due to weather, it was not ok to wear them in the office–you wore them to the office, and changed.
If they had a heel, and were a certain style, they were basically Pretty Woman boots, and had a connotation then. You didn’t want that connotation in an office.
I vividly remember an assistant named Jessica from DeutscheBank who walked me around for my investment banking super day in New York, wearing sparkly burgundy skintight, heeled boots. All the girls interviewing were aghast, “DID YOU SEE HER BOOTS? OMG. BRIDGE AND TUNNEL WOW.”
I would not have this thought now, but we sure did then.
Signed, 2001 college grad who worked on Wall Street, the City of London in law and banking.
This was a thing back in the day. No knee-high boots _in the office_.
Yes, I remember this! And we can credit Condoleeza Rice for breaking this prohibition. Remember how scandalized the WORLD was when she wore knee-high leather boots that are now commonplace?
Side story–was an athlete at Stanford. Condi used to lift in the Varsity weight room at the same time as my team. She was surprisingly cool.
Worn over leather leggings, I see why the look would not work well in many professional settings.
Sorry—typo. They were over the knee boots (in style at the time but very much not in line when folks were in suits, especially as an early careerist).
A few years ago, I did an oral argument in my state Supreme Court in the winter wearing knee high black leather boots, flat heels, with black tights under my skirt suit. I won the case.
My first boss told me for an event we were going to to dress “Somewhere between how you dress for work and how you dress for a rock concert, but no jeans and no khakis.”
…what
Please wear clean clothes. While you’re technically following the dress code, I can tell that you haven’t done laundry in awhile.
Remove the tacking stitch — it’s that X-shaped stitch on the slit at the bottom of some suit jackets and pencil skirts, often in a bright contrasting color thread. That stitch is only there to hold the garment flat for shipping and display. On a related note, check if your pockets are really faux pockets or just sewn shut. Sometimes they are just tacked closed to keep the lines of the pants or jacket nice, but can be snipped if you want working pockets.
The number of classmates I had to do this for during our first week on on-campus interviews… Good reminder!