The International Schools Review Forum

I am in possession of a formal Korean suit and was thinking of wearing it on the first day of the Toronto fair as a way of standing out from the crowd. Do you think this is a bad idea?

Thanks!!

Yes, those things make you look like a bad elvis impersonator. Many of the schools and their recruiters (even the ones in SK) are westerners. Negative attention is NOT better then no attention. You dont want to be the next captain underpants.
Ive seen a couple of candidates show up in Kimono's over the years. They were certainly attention getting. I dont know what happened to one of them, but the other general consensus (and this was a female candidate) was that she just couldnt be taken seriously.

Go with your standard formal business attire.

Formal business attire.
Suits if you have proper ones. That includes ladies.
Minimum dress trousers, long-sleeve button-down and tie for the gents.
Minimum dress trousers/skirt and proper tops for the ladies.
For god's sake, no sneakers, no neon, no cleavage, no ridiculous lacy hosiery for either gender. I once had to decline to interview someone with all 4 at once. Still trying to burn the image out of my brain.

Sneakers with lace? Unemployable!

@sid
Are suits for women the standard? I don't own one, let alone three for each day of a fair. You're a recruiter, no? Does your opinion of people change if they're not in a suit? I was planning on the minimum--dress pants/skirt, nice blouse, blazer.

Are nice leather boots appropriate? Heels? It's going to be freezing in Iowa.

The last thing I want is to have points against me!

You don't need to wear a suit, you don't need to power-dress, you don't want to try to make a statement about who you are by what you wear. Look smart, look well groomed, but don't go over the top.

Suits are absolutely not required. Many teachers simply do not have them, and no one counts it against anyone.
But tidy and professional is important. Dress slacks and shirts, yes, absolutely.

The minimum is the norm. Suits are the exception.

Dress pants/skirt, nice blouse, blazer is fine. If there dress boots they could be fine. Heels or flats are fine as well.

You absolutely want to express your professionalism in how you dress. Claiming that looks or appearance doesnt matter is both disingenuous and false. Its better to error on the side of caution and dress up, then risk being seen negatively by dressing down.

Exceptional teachers dress, well exceptionally.