Job interview next week - "assessment center" format, interview lasts from 8 am till 1 pm. All candidates...

...will be in same room together, and will engage in a series of exercises, role-playing, and scenarios... Job is for a local government agency, at a department head level... The agency has hired a local university's 'institute of public management' to run and the assessment center process and evaluate the candidates.

The candidates received a letter from the manager of the university dept. saying that since the assessment center will last 5 hours or so, he recommends all the candidates should adopt a "business casual" dress code for that day.

Question is this - what constitutes "business casual" these days? I was thinking of wearing a nice pair of olive-green slacks, a black turtleneck pullover shirt, and a black blazer. Of course, my shoes and belt will be black, and immaculately polished. What do you think? I don't want to be the only fool who doesn't wear a tie if the other candidates are likely to do so.

...so- you're saying a chocolate bikini is off the table? lol

I'd love to see yours, though!

Always wear a tie.

busisess casual means you have permission to wear a suitcoat that does not match the pants.

better safe than sorry.

You can always take the tie off. But by no means do you want to be the only guy there with no tie.

you can never be too professional for a government job interview. Good luck. Keep me posted.


sorry...you have to be born with the chocolate bikini...

My hubby works for a federal contractor and to them business casual means no tie, khakis and a polo are suitable.

I worked for the TSA and did a marathon assessment. It took 10 hours. Make sure your clothes are comfortable and your shoes are easy to get on and off. Layering is a good idea, too. One room was freezing and the other had no air at all where I was.

My suggestion would be to wear a short sleeved button up with a sport coat and keep a tie that will match in your pocket. That way if your competition shows up in a tie you can put it on, if they don't you can be more comfortable.

Get ready to hurry up and wait. You'll have to rush to get to a test then wait 2 hours for instructions on the next test, etc.

Good Luck!