Tyler Fields
10 Do’s and Don’ts for you Summer DC Internship Attire
Tyler Fields
Summer 2015
DO:
- DO wear a suit on the first day. Just do it. You absolutely cannot go wrong with a suit on the first day unless you are specifically instructed to wear something else and even then, dress it up a level. Dress for the job you want at the end, not the job you’re starting at.
Credit: Some-ecards.com
- DO dress one notch above your fellow interns. In most other professional parts of the country, the intern that wears a suit and tie every day might be seen as ‘trying too hard.’ Not here. Here is where they are looking for you to be working as hard as you can and dressing to impress is certainly included in that. For example, if the look is business casual, throw a jacket or tie on. One or the other, but the extra piece moves you just a bit above the competition.
- DO feel free to look stylish and trendy. Obviously don’t be too aggressive with it, but no one ever said you can’t look good. A boring and drab suit is likely to do absolutely nothing for you in the eyes of your bosses, but a fitted suit or a vibrant shirt and tie combo at least helps you stand out in a way that says you took the time in the morning to think about your outfit.
- DO fix your hair in the morning, get a haircut, or at least run a comb through it. Disheveled is not ‘cool’ in DC. If you don’t have time to put yourself together in the morning, how on Earth could you be trusted to get someone’s coffee order right, much less appear in front of a client, candidate, or partner?
- DO pay for dry-cleaning. Yes, it is expensive, but you know what is more expensive? Another unpaid internship because your shirts smelled and were wrinkled at the last one so they didn’t end up hiring you. Similar to the hair one above, if you can’t hold your outfit together or look good in the morning, what makes anyone think you can’t keep their calendar or reports together either?
DONT:
- DON’T wear jeans. Ever. Seriously, even if your boss if doing it or other staff members are. Even if no one says anything to you about it, they’ll still judge you for wearing jeans into the office.
Credit: cartoonstock.com with the search ID: cwin3000
- DON’T overdo it on casual Friday. Most offices have at least a degree of casual Fridays and even more so in the summer months. This is a time when it is okay to lose the jacket and tie or break out the khakis (again, no jeans though). You should be somewhat casual because you’ll stick out and look awkward if the whole office is feeling relaxed on a Friday afternoon at happy hour and you’re the person sweating through your suit trying to avoid eye contact and sudden movements.
- DON’T wear things that are too tight or too revealing. This goes for boys and girls. Tailored is good, in fact, tailored is preferred, but if you would wear it out to a bar or club on a weekend, don’t wear it to the office.
- DON’T wear the ultra luxurious items. It is completely okay to wear nice things and to wear them well. Just be aware that if you wear the $20,000 Rolex to the place where you work for little to zero money, that you’ll be a talking point among the staff for all of the wrong reasons.
- DON’T wear your badge. It’s not cool. No one has ever seen someone at the cafeteria or in the hall, glanced at the badge and thought ‘Wow, I need to meet him/her, they’re an intern.’ Seriously, people deal with interns differently and there is certainly a stigma against certain ones, in particular around DC. Slip it in your pocket and maybe, just maybe, that person in the cafeteria will strike up a conversation (or vice versa) without a negative pre-disposition about you.
Below are two great links on what to do with your old dress clothes/great places to donate to career oriented charities:
https://careergear.org/
https://www.dressforsuccess.org/
Tyler Fields is a rising dual degree senior studying finance & politics and working at the Republican National Committee.
