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[ursula]

Yes, wear a sport coat & tie to dinner.
And for heavens sake, pack your suit in your carry-on!

But what if carry-on is not allowed anymore?  Seriously, what are you interviewing folks doing?

[macaroon]

Yes, wear a sport coat & tie to dinner.
And for heavens sake, pack your suit in your carry-on!

But what if carry-on is not allowed anymore?  Seriously, what are you interviewing folks doing?

So, I never did carry-ons.  I'm 5'1", and I generally can't get the rollerboard suitcase up into the overhead bin without standing on the armrest.  I did exactly as I said - I dressed in something slightly more casual than the interview suit, but nothing I'd be embarrassed to be giving my job talk in.   I wore something like this, with a longer skirt.  Or a ballet top with wide leg dress pants
http://www.anntaylorloft.com/catalog/outfit.jsp?ensembleId=4579&N=1200024&pCategoryId=3359&categoryId=246&Ns=CATEGORY_SEQ_246&loc=TN

[just_ducky]

Having served on a few search committees....I would think that for the dinner kahkis, shirt, tie, and sweater (instead of jacket) would also be appropriate.  You want to be comfortable but also look presentable.

[pearlmiller]

And for women? What do you suggest? Are women wearing nice dress suits still? Or are a nice sweater and pants the women's equivalent to the sport coat, followed by the suit the next day?

[msparticularity]

And for women? What do you suggest? Are women wearing nice dress suits still? Or are a nice sweater and pants the women's equivalent to the sport coat, followed by the suit the next day?

Skirt or dress pants, with a jacket or a cardigan, seem to be the feminine equivalent of the khaki-and-sportcoat look. The suit--with either pants or skirt--is still the best/safest idea, especially for meetings with administrators. There are, of course, departments where one could wear jeans and it wouldn't matter, but it's impossible to know that in advance.

[david_perlmutter]

The Discipline matters: for mine, a quasi-business field, males on interviews should wear suit/jackets with a tie. A sciences friend, however, tells me that a business suit would look weird among his open shirted tribe.

Also there are generational differences. Some senior faculty think it's disrespectful for a young job candidate to dress like he already had the job or for Casual Friday.

Regions, too. My first job interview was at a Southern R1, and I was warned to ONLY wear a "true blue" suit. It was good advice.