What to wear to an interview in Japan (part-time, i.e. cleaning job, konbini staff, english teacher)

13 comments

1. I really don’t know the answer but imo you can never go wrong wearing a suit to nearly any occasion.

2. Suit.

   If you’re under 50 years old…. black suit.

3. Always better to be overdressed than underdressed.

4. Wear a suit for just about anything. Driving? Suit. Teaching? Suit. Customer service? Suit. Cleaning? Suit.

   I’d say the only distinct exceptions are heavily blue collar jobs where the interview is more likely than not to be a test of your physical skills than a Q&A session. You don’t want to be wearing a suit to demonstrate your welding or ability to cut tile.

5. Don’t know about English teaching, but I wore a shirt to combini/restaurant chain interviews. If it was winter I throw a coat on top. A suit for those interview is overkill IMO.

6. Last time I did part-time at a 7-11 the tenchou specifically said to me “don’t wear anything fancy just wear your regular daily clothes”.

   Guy’s very chill and sharp looking, in his mid 30s, and cares about his part-timers. I enjoyed my time there. I’ll have to visit that place again one day… Too bad I live 2 hours away now.

   To answer your question, I wouldn’t go with a suit, but business casual should work.

7. No suits necessary for those part time jobs. English teacher, if it’s a company, maybe.

8. Everyone is saying wear a suit for everything but I’ve had about 5 job interviews for truck driving jobs. Had a few offers even (pay and hours were crap so I declined)

   I wore black pants. Not even suit slacks just ironed black pants and a white, long sleeved collared shirt.

   That’s it. Wear a suit for anything white collar like teaching or any office job but I wore a suit and tie to one driving job and the guy commented that I looked super out of place.

   One job site I went to for an interview was muddy and even the interviewer looked like he just finished loading a truck

9. You don’t need suit for part-time jobs. Just wear something like an office T-shirt with collars. Always with collars, it makes you look tidy and neat. And tuck your shirt inside.

10. You need to standout from other candidates. I recommend wearing a top hat.

11. Why would you wear a suit for a cleaning or konbini job? Save your money, since this is the reason you‘re looking for a part-time job

12. For konbini or cashier Just go there in your normal clothes. They dont care. All they want is workforce.

13. Better to be over dressed than under dressed as long as you don’t look like you’re on the way to a wedding, as you never know if the hiring manager has a hard on for interview dress code. 

    This reminds me of when my ex was reduced to tears in a job interview, as the old bastard oyaji manager went off on her for not being well presented enough. It was only for a crappy door-knocking scam sales job, too.