Rutgers barred students from career fair

[Bandito440]

Nobody's assuming that college students have a selection of suits. If one of them was unable to provide the required dress themselves, they could have shown some initiative and found one at a thrift shop or contacted one of the many charities that provide free suits to low-income job applicants. I bet the school's office that organized the event would have helped with suggestions.

It's not about blue or gray. It's about attention to detail and initiative.

 

[Andrew1972]

Rutgers already acknowledged they screwed up depriving both students and recruiters of potential opportunities.

I attend career fairs for recruitment and while dress may show initiative you need to talk to any or all of them to pick through and get a feel. I'd be annoyed if host was limiting my opportunity to chat with folks.

 

[Donald]

Things have changed a lot since my mother left there in 1982 as a Full Professor.

I would think business casual would be fine. If a student felt he/she was going to be talking to a stuffy bank that still wears suits, then the student can wear a suit.

At IBM they stopped requiring us to wear suits in the early 1990s unless you visited a customer where their dress code was business formal (suit).

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Things have changed a lot since my mother left there in 1982 as a Full Professor.

I would think business casual would be fine. If a student felt he/she was going to be talking to a stuffy bank that still wears suits, then the student can wear a suit.

At IBM they stopped requiring us to wear suits in the early 1990s unless you visited a customer where their dress code was business formal (suit).



The old Sun Microsystems dress code was "You must"

So people who never saw customers might be in tank tops and flip flops.

Those of us who were the face of the company to the customer dressed appropriately for the customer we were visiting.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I totally agree with Rutgers,these adults were informed of a dress code which they violated. Once these adult children show up for work one day,if they violate dress code,they will be shown the door there too. Rules and regulations are all a part of being a functioning grown up.


It is ALSO A TEST- - -

If you can't have enough attention to detail to wear the clothes specified,
how are you going to adhere to other company policies and procedures?

 

[DoubleWasp]

It's a completely assinine requirement for a job fair that does nothing but make life harder for those who are still struggling to make it.

There are indeed times in the professional world where this will count, but it's over-the-top to be swinging this at people going to a job fair.

A person who is struggling just to make the tuition cannot be expected to pull a new suit out of their rear.

Charities are nice, but very rarely work quickly enough, and change faces everyday. When I was working with the Salvation Army to help people get jobs, there were 5-7 contact cards for suits at any given time. These cards changed faster than in a poker game, and 5 of them were dead-ends at any given time.

Thrift stores have cheap suits, but they are not free.

Just a horribly in appropriate time or place to pull this kind of stupid stunt.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

Originally Posted By: javacontour

The old Sun Microsystems dress code was "You must"

So people who never saw customers might be in tank tops and flip flops.

Those of us who were the face of the company to the customer dressed appropriately for the customer we were visiting.


I paid a visit to the Sun campus in Burlington, MA when it was brand new, pushing my little team's products and fishing around for new product ideas.
It was gorgeous...very much like my visit to Apple in CA not long after, quite informal and with a feel more like a top flight college campus than a workplace.
This was just about at the zenith of the company's fortunes and I think they really regretted building that place before very long.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
Originally Posted By: surfstar
First step in getting hired for a job, is to correctly fill out the application.

This was a good lesson

Agreed.

Although I do not agree with a suit color requirement (and note that if someone had an issue it should have been discussed BEFORE the job fair), there nevertheless was a requirement to interview. The article did not say, but perhaps the standards were created by the interviewing companies and not Rutgers.

Edit: Rutgers' minimum tuition is more than $31k per semester; so it is not like these students could not afford to show up in the correct clothing.

I don't think it's that much, especially for undergraduate business school students.

https://www.studentabc.rutgers.edu/sites...20Undergrad.pdf

I used to work in a downtown office building that also had several floors taken up by one of the major "Big Six" accounting firms. We'd see when the company was interviewing new grads. They've be waiting in the lobby - nearly all wearing solid navy blue suits or (for women) suit top with skirt. The lone renegade was wearing dark gray.

 

[Leo99]

My son is in college and he has 1 suit for events like this. I'd be upset with the school if he was turned away because his suit is navy blue instead of black. I don't remember what color the suit is and I bought it for him. It's a business suit suitable for job interviews, weddings, funerals, and formal parties. He doesn't have a white shirt. I don't have a white shirt.

I went to Rutgers so I'm not surprised they screwed this up. Rutgers could have just said that formal business attire is to be worn and given that list as a guideline.

If the dress code came from the potential employers then you can consider it a test of sorts but since the potential employers were not aware of the dress code, it's the school being heavy-handed.

 

[y_p_w]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
I went to Rutgers so I'm not surprised they screwed this up. Rutgers could have just said that formal business attire is to be worn and given that list as a guideline.

I guess their worry was that perhaps it wouldn't be a traditional business suit, but something with loud colors like NFL draft prospects wear on draft night.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
This all makes sense, but turning kids away over dark blue vs. dark grey is just asinine. Rutgers should be focused on helping their students find jobs, not on teaching them about picking nits.

It's not about the suit color, it's about teaching them attention to detail. If an applicant can't get that right for whatever reason, what other corners will they cut? They either learned a good lesson, or are blaming someone else for their mistake.


This is asinine, like a professor moving content around in his own 5th edition book to generate a 6th edition so the students have to buy a new copy. Naturally it's a required purchase for the class. It's corrupting the power of the school. If you want to test the students' attention to detail have them fill out one form in black pen and another in blue.

College is supposed to teach people to think, not to comply mindlessly.

Smithers, who is that maverick in the pink shirt?

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: y_p_w
Originally Posted By: Leo99
I went to Rutgers so I'm not surprised they screwed this up. Rutgers could have just said that formal business attire is to be worn and given that list as a guideline.

I guess their worry was that perhaps it wouldn't be a traditional business suit, but something with loud colors like NFL draft prospects wear on draft night.


Yes, that's what I inferred that someone might wear an electric blue suit.

Since it's college and a learning environment, the school could have barred students in casual attire, allowed students in wearing business attire, and spoke with those that were a bit too casual but let them in. Remember that job interview in Pursuit of Happyness?

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
If they looked decent they should have been let in. Not everyone wants to look like a 90 year old man wearing the most boring suit possible.
They had a dress code.

 

[MNgopher]

When I was in college, I owned exactly one suit. It was Navy Blue. It was in no way unprofessional, unworthy of an interview, or otherwise indicative in any way of my professional talents.

Honestly, sounds an awful lot like things were too lax, and now the pendulum has swung much too far the other other direction.

While I do not disagree that following directions is important, the idea that mandating the color of the suit needed for a recruiting event will assist in anyway to weed out unworthy candidates is laughable at best, particularly when those involved for the most part do not have the financial means to just go out and buy a suit on a whim, simply because Navy Blue wouldn't be acceptable, but Black or Grey is...

 

[Shannow]

The best part is that they ridiculously and needlessly reduced their access to the talent pool, by asinine application of a dress code that was designed by somebody thinking that they were a genius for weeding out pranksters, but didn't think laterally enough as to what other consequences it had.

The strict application of the dress code by the drones, without questioning whether there was a problem with the code, as strict application was ejecting people who apparently DID fit the mold demonstrates that they are intentionally populating their staff WITH mindless, unquestioning yes men drones.

Doesn't sound like a long term successful model, does it ?

 

[DoubleWasp]

Exactly. This act achieves nothing at all in the grand scheme of things.

And the response about the spectrometer? GTF out of town. Everything about that situation just speaks of [removed].

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted By: Kuato


Agreed.

Although I do not agree with a suit color requirement (and note that if someone had an issue it should have been discussed BEFORE the job fair), there nevertheless was a requirement to interview. The article did not say, but perhaps the standards were created by the interviewing companies and not Rutgers.

Edit: Rutgers' minimum tuition is more than $31k per semester; so it is not like these students could not afford to show up in the correct clothing.


Guess you've never heard of financial aid?
I went to a very expensive private school but paid no tuition, just room and board...even then, I didn't have lots of spare cash laying around for buying extra suits. I even wore a horrible old clip on tie to my on campus interviews, luckily I had a friend give me a real tie and teach me a half Windsor before I flew out for my plant trips.
Also know a kid who is going to Rutgers on a free ride for sports, by coincidence. Will have to warn her about buying the right color dress and shoes.


Yep, I've heard of financial aid believe it or not. But there's a maximum you can take out yearly in Federal Student Loans. Here's a Google page for you:

https://www.google.com/search?q=maximum+...me&ie=UTF-8

(please note that the maximum falls WELL short of Rutgers' tuition)


Well done for you, only paying room and board in college. Well done indeed. Do you have some statistics for the Rutgers students that were turned away? Were they scraping by like you, or were they children of affluent parents? Did they have loans or did grandpa pay cash for them? The reality is that we simply don't know and never will.

But one thing we DO know is that this was requested by the employers. We also know that the word was put out prior to the interviews. I'm sorry for those that didn't have the money to buy the proper color. I'm sorry for those that didn't pay attention and showed up in the wrong color. I'm also sorry for the poor suckers that didn't bother to pay enough attention to show up in the right color, as well as those that chose to ignore the requirement and those that simply couldn't be bothered to show the personal initiative to borrow the correct color suit from a friend. For those that didn't care enough, maybe this job interview really wasn't that important. Maybe it was. One dang thing is for sure is that it is a valuable life lesson for them all.

I'll restate: I think the color standard was ludicrous. I also think that many office dress codes are the same. But the point was made earlier that it's the employer's choice to have or not have a dress code, and if you want to work there you have to adhere to the dress code. People have been fired for less. Yes, a valuable life lesson indeed.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
I'm also sorry for the poor suckers that didn't bother to pay enough attention to show up in the right color, as well as those that chose to ignore the requirement and those that simply couldn't be bothered to show the personal initiative to borrow the correct color suit from a friend.


Assuming their friends also go to Rutgers, there would be a run on the correct color suit for a single-day event. Even the town might have problems keeping them on racks.

This is a marketing thing for Rutgers to get their name out there to be the envy of incoming freshmen. Guarantee there's a photographer there to get pics of all the charcoal suited people for glossy pics for alumni and admissions publications.

 

[Kuato]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Kuato
I'm also sorry for the poor suckers that didn't bother to pay enough attention to show up in the right color, as well as those that chose to ignore the requirement and those that simply couldn't be bothered to show the personal initiative to borrow the correct color suit from a friend.


Assuming their friends also go to Rutgers, there would be a run on the correct color suit for a single-day event. Even the town might have problems keeping them on racks.




I can mail order a suit in my size and selected color and have it in my hands in less than 3 days.

Further, are you telling me that the whole northern part of the State of New Jersey and New York City as well, ran out of gray suits? I mean Rutgers is smack in the middle of one of the most heavily populated areas of the country. SURELY there was a suit to be found.



Originally Posted By: eljefino

This is a marketing thing for Rutgers to get their name out there to be the envy of incoming freshmen. Guarantee there's a photographer there to get pics of all the charcoal suited people for glossy pics for alumni and admissions publications.



Of course there is! I'm sure the employers' suggestion was met with sincere agreement. Can't have one or two blue suits sticking out in the promotional glossy color photo (with the arrows and the paragraph on the back of each one)

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Kuato
But one thing we DO know is that this was requested by the employers.


It only states that the employers objected to slovenliness in the past...not that they specified a colour...seeing as we are sticking to what we DO know.

I'm sure that the employers are peeved that the mindless application of a flawed criteria cost them candidates.