Dressing for a Career Fair: Agriculture and Life Sciences
The students tell the companies their experiences and what they want for their future.
January 25, 2017
For Agriculture and Life Sciences
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences stresses to its students that they only have one chance for a positive first impression.
Mike Gaul, the director of Career Services, tells his female and male students to not go over or under dressed. He did say he would rather have his students “show up looking ‘too’ professional” than not.
“The positive thing about our school as a whole is that we never have huge issues regarding dress at our career fairs, just because our students take their future very seriously. It is definitely reflected by [how] they do at the fairs,” Gaul said.
He recommends to his students that the males attending the Career Fair wear a suit and women wear a blouse, skirt or slacks. Gaul tells his students that they should avoid wearing anything that is too bold because they don’t want to be a distraction from the true reason they are there or to make any wrong impression.
Gaul explained that the agriculture and life sciences industries are very conservative in nature to begin with. Unlike apparel programs where you might find students dressing to show their skills in apparel, agriculture and life sciences students are very subtle with basic colors like blacks, browns, grays, nothing “too outside of the norm.”
“Looking crisp at the career fair is a must,” Gaul said.
In some of these industries, employees could very well be working day to day in jeans, just depending on the job.
Gaul said, “It is important to teach our students now that they should dress for success, because they don’t know down the road what their job will require them to wear. They could have to be in a suit or long skirt every day or it could be business casual.”
He noted that the Iowa State campus as a whole takes dress very seriously.
“I have noticed at career fairs that most of the men and women are conservative and want success. Dress up your outfit by adding a little spice of color to your tie or blouse but don’t distract from your goal because your goal of success is the most important.”
