How should I dress for an interview?

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Karen Chopra
Licensed Professional Counselor
www.ChopraCareers.com  
 

Karen James Chopra, LPC, MCC, NCC, has been counseling career clients since 1999 and has helped hundreds of clients change careers, find new jobs and deal more effectively with workplace challenges.

In addition to her private practice, she has worked for two national corporate outplacement firms: Lee Hecht Harrison and Resource Careers. These are the organizations that help people who have experienced a layoff or downsizing to find new jobs, and their programs are usually considered the gold-standard of job search technique.

Ms Chopra is a regular presenter on career issues, having taught career theory at the graduate level, designed and delivered numerous workshops, and served as a regular guest commentator on WMAL’s career radio show “Your Career Life.”

She is a career-changer herself. Before entering the counseling field, she worked for nearly a decade as a trade negotiator for the United States Government, first at the Department of Commerce and then at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Ms. Chopra holds a number of relevant licenses and certifications: licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the District of Columbia; Master Career Counselor (MCC), a designation of the National Career Development Association (NCDA); and National Certified Counselor (NCC), a designation of the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC).  She belongs to all of the relevant national and local associations involved in career counseling, including the American Counseling Association (ACA),  the National Employment Counselors Association (NECA), the National Career Development Association (NCDA) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Career-Life Planning Network (MAC-LPN).

Her B.A. is from the University of Virginia, and she received a masters of science in foreign service from Georgetown University, and a masters in community counseling from George Washington University.

How should I dress for an interview?

 

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Transcripts

Karen James Chopra: Hi, I am Karen Chopra. I am a career counselor in Washington DC and now we are going to talk about what happens on the day of the interview.

Host: How should I dress for an interview?

Karen James Chopra: I always recommend that clients dress as formally as possible, even if the workplace itself is rather informal. So for men, that's a suit or a coat and tie or for women, usually a skirt suit unless you happen to be in a fairly laid back city or locality, pant suits are okay if that's acceptable in the industry, but I usually I advice people to go for the full interview dress. Make sure that the suits are fairly silver colors, navy blue or gray or black and that for women, the jewelery is kept to a minimum. You don't want anything that jingles or shimmers or loose around in the interview and you want to make sure ahead of time that it has been to cleaners that there are no tears, there are no stains, there is no cat hair and have the interview suit all ready to go before the day of the interview.

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