What to wear to a job interview

I used to think that the question of what to wear to a job interview could be answered relatively easily: a suit, polished shoes, tidy hair and discreet makeup (very discreet if your chromosomes are of the XY persuasion). Then business casual came in, I - and many others - started working in a non-suity profession and the prevailing advice shifted towards staking out one's would-be employer, assessing the outfits worn by its staff and dressing to match. Not quite as straightforward, but still manageable.

Now it has become much more complicated. A couple of pieces on CareerJournal.com tell us that new rules for interviewees now include:

1. Prepare for a car assessment. Not make - interior. Neat and tidy equals a tick on the recruiter's form; cans of cider, old socks and a dog equals a small red cross.

2. The right haircut for chaps. A freshly-barbered short back and sides is no longer enough. These days it's important to ensure that the style is tapered at the nape, not cut straight across.

3. All-natural socks. Nothing nylon. And no pilling allowed, either.

4. Avoid wearing a new suit. It should cost at least $1,000 but it has to look like your normal outfit, not something you bought/borrowed/stole for the interview.

5. Wear a light-coloured suit. If you're a woman and if you're quite senior, that is. It will stop you looking too intimidating. (There's a whole other conversation to have around the implications of that piece of advice but I'm too busy not scaring my male colleagues to bother saddling my high horse at the moment.)

6. Make an effort, ladies. Another part of the article complains that women don't pay enough attention to their appearance. It's almost as if they're so interested in delivering results for shareholders that they forget that it's their job to wear a bit of lippy and a pretty blouse, as one (female) executive almost says.

7. Don't wear trousers unless you're a man, in which case don't wear skirts. One financial sector manager says that women who wear skirts and pantyhose make better employees because it's easier to catch a glimpse of their knickers when you hide under the desk. (Well technically he only said that they make better employees. I added the second part out of bad-tempered cynicism. I expect that he has a series of very sensible reasons, but as he declined to be quoted by name I can't ring him up and question him about them.)