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Can Anyone Actually Explain “Business Casual?”

Dressed for success? Well, he's dressed for...something.

One bright side to a lousy economy is that you get to practice your job interview skills…right? That’s a bright side, right? I’m always a bit vexed by the dress code at these sorts of things, though. If they haven’t already told me, I’ll generally ask whoever has called to inform me of my impending interview and that person will almost always respond that the dress code is “business casual.” Oh, no big deal—business casual.

Except business casual is a big, fat joke. A joke played on us by potential employers, where they all get together at their weekly boss meetings and figure out how to make us squirm…because can anyone actually explain to me what sort of attire business casual entails?

Actually, that question should be rephrased. Yes, you probably can tell me what business casual is, but a better question is “If I ask 100 people, will any of those answers be the same?”

The idea for business casual attire came about in the 1970s when the government started telling people they had to turn their thermostats up. Really. So people were uncomfortable in their suits and neckties and business casual was born! Except some business casual employees wear suits…and some business casual employers require suits. Also, some business casual employees wear ties, too. So…yeah. Some just wear a nice button-down shirt, but some employers require a tie if you wear a button-down with no suit. And some polo shirts can be pretty dressy, but employers say those are not business casual…except some employers. Those employers think polo shirts are all right. How about pants? Nice khakis? Sure…except not if your employer thinks business casual still requires dress pants. Jeans are definitely out…except not always. Steve Jobs likes that look, so I guess it’s all right…sometimes.

On top of that, let’s talk about employer preferences as opposed to rules. Maybe your polo shirt is business casual, but your potential employer thinks button-downs are more appropriate for the workplace. Already you’re at a disadvantage and you’re not even doing anything wrong. The employer doesn’t think polo shirts aren’t business casual, he just doesn’t think they’re proper attire. And coming into an interview with inappropriate attire is a pretty quick way to not get a job. How difficult is it to come out with a standard business casual dress code somewhere in between a suit and regular clothes? Just do it and stick to it.

I think the younger generation has a more difficult time discerning the rules, simply because we’ve grown up in a more casually dressed society. Skirts get shorter, pants get lower, and expectations get a bit muddled. The older generation’s casual is a bit too formal for younger people, and the younger generation’s casual is a bit too inappropriate for older people. It also doesn’t help that the very term business casual is misleading. business casual is a middle ground between business and casual attire. They make pretty nice, fancy jeans, but those aren’t allowed (except sometimes). A button-down shirt is good (but sometimes not good enough) so that should work, right? No (Yes). On the whole, business casual is much more business than casual, and that’s fine…but it isn’t a middle ground between business and casual. It’s somewhere to the side. The other thing is the way the term works grammatically. Business is a modifier for the word “casual” in the term business casual. It sounds like something fundamentally casual with a little extra fancy in there. That’s not what employers want, though, so why do we keep calling it that?

Do you have any job interview stories? Did business casual ruin you or did it save the day? Tell us your stories; we’d love to hear them.