I recently “promoted” to the main blog a question about interviewing attire. I made the point that even in a business casual environment, a suit was really the only smart and acceptable way to go to an interview (ladies too).

Because sometimes our approach tends to be a little more formal - or at least, we tend to deliver it with a tone that brooks less discussion - I try to provide reinforcement from other sources.

Recently, CareerJournal, the excellent careers site run by the Wall Street Journal, ran an article on What Not To Wear in Interviews.

In case you don’t want to go read it (it’s short and quite good, and there’s more than what’s here), I will excerpt one quote from Patrick Dailey, a Nokia HR manager, with whom I am familiar. His advice is routinely quite good.

The dress-code rule of thumb for men interviewing at most U.S. companies remains a dark suit, a light or white shirt and a bright-colored but sophisticated tie, says Patrick Dailey, a Dallas-based director of business human resources for Nokia Corp., a Finnish telecommunications company. He notes that since there are so many uncontrollable things that can work against you during job interviews, it’s wise to control what you can.

“Go by your mom’s rule,” says Mr. Dailey. “You can never be overdressed. Even if they say to wear business casual, it’s appropriate for you to be in a suit and tie.”

I answered a post this morning about male managers’ dressing habits, and left something out.

If you can’t shine your shoes, you have on the wrong shoes.

Managers shoes are able to be shined.  If yours are not, you’re leaving out an important part of your wardrobe.

If you don’t know how to shine them… maybe there’s a cast there.  Mike and I are, thanks to school, quite adept at it.  I stumbled over this early in my corporate career, and felt like a fool for not using the skills I had been given.

Ladies, many of your shoes are shinable as well…. and therefore, yes, we recommend it for you too.