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[odelia]

For conference interviews and campus visits, it appears from reading through earlier postings on this site that a suit is considered standard attire. My concern is that I will be moving through the middle months of my first pregnancy over the course of job hunting season, and so a nicely tailored suit will not be an option for me. (In preliminary shopping, it appears that most suits cut for pregnant women are cut for the later months, so it would be quite large in the earlier months, which will include my conference interviews.)

Does anyone have advice about how pregnant job candidates should dress? I had been thinking that I might purchase several nice jackets that could be worn open, and pair them with dressy pants and nice shirts, but fear I will look too casual.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[polly_mer]

Go with your instincts on this one.  Until you get to any particular point in your pregnancy, you won't know how big you are.

The point of wearing the suit is to show that you are serious about the position and have dressed up.  Nice jackets with dressy pants and nice shirts will indicate that seriousness just as well as a suit.  Unless you are in one of very few fields where one particular kind of suit is absolutely, positively, without question the only proper attire (some engineering specialties insist on a black suit with your only choice as which color tie to wear: dark blue or dark green), then you should be fine.

[systeme_d_]

I say you're in luck!
Trapeze jackets (aka swing jackets) are in style again, and there are some lovely businessy ones to be found these days.

Examples: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ANN-TAYLOR-LOFT-Black-Donegal-Tweed-Swing-Jacket-0_W0QQitemZ350264017350QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_WC_Blazers_Tailored_Jackets?hash=item518d5cc1c6

http://cgi.ebay.com/Banana-Republic-Swing-Coat-Jacket-NWOT-Size-Small_W0QQitemZ120479782597QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_WC_Blazers_Tailored_Jackets?hash=item1c0d2796c5

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-TravelSmith-Womens-Cropped-Swing-Jacket-BRN-MP_W0QQitemZ250512552571QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_CSA_WC_Blazers_Tailored_Jackets?hash=item3a53b6327b

http://www.newport-news.com/shop/product_single.aspx?style_id=35103236&cm_ven=PERFORMICS&cm_ite=DATAFEED&srccode=cii_16776730&cpncode=23-58253492-2

I love this last one.  The material is wrong, but the style is perfect!

[msparticularity]

Now, see, this is the normal, benign controlling/displacement behavior that everyone should strive for <interthreduality>. Interview attire and paperclips versus staples--SO much healthier than trying to manage the SC!

[kedves]

I like those swing jackets.

Depending on how big you are, try on an polished wool shirt-jacket that is drapey rather than constructed with a few shirts including an empire-waist knit top, and a skirt or pants, and see what you think.  You don't need the button-down-the-center item to look professional.  An open conventional suit jacket looks good, but as you go through the pregnancy, it might become small in contrast to your middle to the point where you think that it does not look or feel right.  You don't know for sure at this point how your body will transform at each point.

Wear nice and comfortable shoes.  If you are nice-looking, clean, and professional-seeming, you will be miles ahead of anyone who has the suit thing down but still gets it wrong or seems awkward in it.  Good luck!

[macaroon]

Congratulations, odelia, and good luck on the job search!

I recommend a dress instead, perhaps with a chunky necklace to draw the eyes away from your belly.  Gap Maternity usually makes a dress or two that would be very appropriate for a job interview, as does A Pea in the Pod and Nordstroms.  Go for high quality, and it will send the same message as a suit. 

[kedves]

Just put it on the right place

Put what on the right place?  The baby-daddy responsibility to keep the young'un in spam?

[odelia]

Thank you all for your feedback. Your advice and encouragement makes me feel more confident about my sartorial choices. The last thing I want to be worrying about during interviews is my clothing! So I really appreciate your help and suggestions.

[birgitta1415]

My advice is to wait until really close until the date of the interviews to purchase clothes.  As others have said you can't really know what your body is going to do.  It's entirely possible that you may be able to wear a suit in a somewhat larger than normal size.  Though I know on other threads some have said the larger size option didn't work for them, it did work for me.  I went on a campus interview when I was 5 months pregnant with my first child, and I wore a non-maternity trouser suit with a long, slightly boxy jacket one size up from my pre-pregnancy size.  At that point in the pregnancy, I didn't have the "basket ball belly."  I just looked like I had gained about a few pounds above my normal weight.  And since nobody on the search committee knew what I looked like before I was pregnant, they probably just thought I was a little on the chunky side.

[navelgazer]

When I was 4-5 months pregnant, I just wore a suit that was a couple sizes too big (it was from before a big weight loss years before I got pregnant). I have since talked to 2 people from that interview and no one was the wiser. 2 days before the interview it was okay, the day of the interview I had to let the button out... close call.

When I was 6 months pregnant, I bought a suit and it worked until 8 months. I really recommend setting aside a day a week before you need to be somewhere and doing your shopping then.

[collegekidsmom]

Of course, depending on your build, you can go with longer top, nice black business pants(using rubber band over the button trick or something else. Now, if you are tall, there are some great jackets they are advertising as "boyfriend jackets" to wear or carry with that. If you are the right height, there are also some great longer cardigans out there to wear over beautiful long blouse or sweater. For myself, when I was pregnant the best look was great pants with that longer top, sweater or jacket with great accessories. You can still wear great shoes, scarves, great jewelry or other accessories. Myself, I would wear tall boots or anything that "draws the eye away from the middle" as they always say. Problem is that every woman wears a pregnancy differently, and so what works for someone else may not work for you. So many choices now make it easier. The first time I was pregnant, back in the day, the "working woman" style was a jumper, blouse, and like some kind of bow thing around the neck. I thought it made people look like a whale even if only a few months pregnant and the jumper look had that innocent, old-fashioned school teacher look. Some well-meaning friend sent me a navy blue "tall" jumper with a white blouse before an interview. I think it was the only thing during the pregnancy that truly made me cry when I opened the box (and not from happiness).

[macaroon]

I want to add one caveat to the "shop right before the interview" plan.

The week after Christmas, they pull all the fall clothing from the shelves and replace it with the "Spring" collection.  Don't wait until the week before a February interview or you will find nothing on the shelves but strappy tanks and above the knee floral skirts.

[navelgazer]

I want to add one caveat to the "shop right before the interview" plan.

The week after Christmas, they pull all the fall clothing from the shelves and replace it with the "Spring" collection.  Don't wait until the week before a February interview or you will find nothing on the shelves but strappy tanks and above the knee floral skirts.

I bought my pregnancy suit in late January. Not only did I get a great deal, but there were a ton of options all over my mid-to-small-sized city.

[birgitta1415]

Maybe in really fashion-conscious places they pull clothes.  Here, in my mid-size Southern city, things don't disappear, they just go on the sale rack.  This was true in the midwestern mid-size place where I lived previously as well.  I LOVE this.   I shop for fall and winter (or as much winter as we get here) in the spring and get great bargains.  So, figure out local practices, and you might well save yourself some money!

[hestia]

I agree that there's no predicting one's pregnancy size.  By my fifth month, I already started to look like I had a basketball in my stomach.  I had an on-campus interview at the beginning of my 9th month, by which time I was enormous, and two weeks before the trip I bought the only dress that fit me that didn't have hearts and bows on it (it was black).  On the plane I wore the denim jumper my husband's cousin had sent, and I ended up wearing that to the (casual) dinner, since the dean assured me I didn't have to change.  I got the job.