Urgent Help! First job interview in 15 years!

[Addy]

Hey folks,
I have an interview in 4 hours. What do I wear?!?

The job is for a cleaning company. I have 8 years experience in the field and telephone conversations with the boss have led me to believe that my qualifications are good and that she is very interested in speaking to me. I don't have any worries about answering questions, but I am stumped on what to wear!

This is a physical job where I will get dirty and will be wearing very casual (grubby) clothes, or possibly a scrub-type uniform while working.

I don't want to dress up too much for the interview, but I do want to be presentable. The interview is in a Starbucks. 

The possibilities: a pair of capris and a t-shirt style top, a thin jersey knit navy skirt and dressier, but still casual top, or a more formal, structured navy skirt and blouse. Or some other combination of these items?

Thank you for any and all advice. And please think good thoughts for me! 

[Addy]

Oops, actually realized it's over 20 years since my last interview.

[Outdoor Girl]

Do you have a pair of khakis or a plain pair of dress pants?  I would wear those over the capris with a more structured top, like a blouse or button down.  You could probably get away with a golf type shirt, too, but I don't think I'd wear a tee-shirt unless it was a dressier style - no crew necks, for example.  If your capris have some structure and are on the dressier side, I think you could get away with those.  I probably wouldn't wear a skirt, in this case.

I'd avoid a lot of jewellery, in this case.  Simple earrings, maybe a plain neck chain.  I'd avoid rings (other than wedding) and bracelets and chunky necklaces as you wouldn't be able to wear those

Flat shoes or ones with a low heel would be fine.

Good luck!

[Addy]

I don't have khakis.  My only pair of dress pants are black. I was thinking that they are too wintry, but they aren't really too heavy. It is really quite hot here right now, but the Starbucks should have A/C, so the black pants might be ok.

Part of the problem is that I have put on some weight, so a lot of my clothes aren't fitting too well.

[ladyknight1]

I would wear the black pants with a lighter, but not too casual top.

[White Lotus]

Either of the first two sound good to me.  I would take my cue from the venue, not from the job.  Everyday dressy, kind of.  The structured more formal clothing sounds off to me as it isn't what you would wear to work.  Not too casual -- girl-style dressy tees, and flats or nice sandals, not sneakers -- but not too dressy, either.  FWIW

[CakeBeret]

I would wear the black pants, with a top that makes you feel pretty and confident.

[White Lotus]

Oh -- forgot to say, good luck!

[Syfygeek]

Addy, how did it go?

[Addy]

Well first off, thanks for your help everybody.

As far as dress goes, I ended up wearing some khaki capris that I found in a box under my bed, that my sister gave me last year and I had forgotten about   with a light blue and white top. The interviewer was wearing black capris, a black and white top and flip flops.  There was one girl there in a strapless sundress. 

But the interview itself, I was kind of meh about. The business is run by a woman and her daughter, and I just found them both to be kind of unprofessional. First off, the "interviews" were just having everyone who inquired meet at a Starbucks where we filled out applications and then they talked to us each for maybe two minutes.

I got there 10 minutes before the start time and they weren't there yet. There were a lot of applicants there already. They came in at 3, but, as this is quite a tiny Starbucks, there wasn't a table big enough for all of us, so we had to split into two groups. I don't know, but I think if it were me, I would have been there half an hour or so beforehand to get set up. Some of her application forms weren't printed on both sides because she said she wasn't very good with computers. Also, she brought her dog.

The job itself sounds like it would be easy to be taken advantage of. The pay is 3 dollars an hour less than I was making at my last job. It's a Molly Maid kind of thing where they do commercial properties early in the morning and then do homes later in the day. She told us that we don't get breaks because we get our breaks in the car on the way to the next job. Oh, and we don't get paid for travel time.  So in effect, no paid breaks, which I believe is illegal here, but...

So I haven't heard back yet, but my references have not been contacted yet, either. So I will wait and see.

[ladyknight1]

I hope you find a better job, this sounds like a bad situation. If they can't print applications properly, how are they at paying people? 

[RegionMom]

A few warning flags, not quite red, but definitely pinkish.

There are SO many cleaning companies (see Groupon and Living Social for deals every week) that I could have a different company come every week with a deal special for months.

So, if this is the field you want, you can find an established, professional company, instead of this casual, let's see, we might not know the laws/computers/interview etiquette...but we are nice so go with us! company.

Good luck.

Did they at least pay for your yummy drink?