CNA attire during interview?

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Have an upcoming interviewing with a LTC/Memory care facility. Is it appropriate to wear scrubs? Or should you wear professional attire? Thanks in advance for the help!

+1 for professional attire. As others have stated, scrubs should never be worn to an interview.

Very sloppy.

In addition - those that interview in scrubs give off the "I want to pretend I'm on a (insert name of popular medical) TV show" vibe.

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+1 for professional attire. As others have stated, scrubs should never be worn to an interview.

Very sloppy.

In addition - those that interview in scrubs give off the "I want to pretend I'm on a (insert name of popular medical) TV show" vibe.

That is not true at all. Wearing scrubs does not automatic equal sloppy, nor doed it mean youare trying to be some tv character. I am a firm believer in professional attire for interviews but there are some instances when you have to, due to yours and the interviewers schedule. I have only worn scrubs once to an interview but I would do it again if it were my only option.

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I will reiterate what everyone else says. I know what you are thinking, and why it would make sense to wear scrubs, but you must wear a suit or a tie and shirt. I thought the same thing, when I went for my CNA interview, and wanted to show them I am ready to go, and here I am practically one of you guys already, etc. etc. Yeah, the picture in your mind is good, but in reality it's not good. Fortunately I had a friend RN that told me not to.

Just to be funny, how do you think it would look like if a fire fighter went to an interview wearing a fire fighter uniform, with a helmet under his arm? :-) Or an astronaut interviewing with NASA wearing a space suit?! :-)

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That is not true at all. Wearing scrubs does not automatic equal sloppy, nor doed it mean youare trying to be some tv character. I am a firm believer in professional attire for interviews but there are some instances when you have to, due to yours and the interviewers schedule. I have only worn scrubs once to an interview but I would do it again if it were my only option.

I can only go by personal experiences, and observations. As others have said though, if one is transferring within the same facility - and the interview occurs during your shift, then scrubs can be acceptable. But still,should be a last resort.

Lots of folks who interview in scrubs for cna/pca/aide/unit secretary positions usually turn out to be liabilities for the facility they are applying to.

A stretch?

Not really.

Especially when you consider that the "I want to pretend I'm my favorite character on (insert TV show here)" leads to the employee not having a full understanding of their scope of practice. And then a denial on their parts to actually follow their own scope of practice.

This may sound insane to some. But If I hadn't seen it over and over again throughout the years........

The stories I could share....

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I can only go by personal experiences, and observations. As others have said though, if one is transferring within the same facility - and the interview occurs during your shift, then scrubs can be acceptable. But still,should be a last resort.

Lots of folks who interview in scrubs for cna/pca/aide/unit secretary positions usually turn out to be liabilities for the facility they are applying to.

A stretch?

Not really.

Especially when you consider that the "I want to pretend I'm my favorite character on (insert TV show here)" leads to the employee not having a full understanding of their scope of practice. And then a denial on their parts to actually follow their own scope of practice.

This may sound insane to some. But If I hadn't seen it over and over again throughout the years........

The stories I could share....

Well your experiences are very much different than mine. I know of many others that have interviewed in scrubs and the positions you've listed and they are still working, some probably had no excuse to wear the scrubs, which I dont agree with but they got the job and still have the job.

You have your opinion and I have mine though.

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Well your experiences are very much different than mine. I know of many others that have interviewed in scrubs and the positions you've listed and they are still working, some probably had no excuse to wear the scrubs, which I dont agree with but they got the job and still have the job.

You have your opinion and I have mine though.

Definitely agree with you,there. I don't want you to think I was minimizing your opinions and/or experiences. Sometimes I can get a bit "wordy" and give off the wrong impression.

My apologies.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the Interview Help forum.

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Thank you all. As this is a career change for me, it was definitely helpful to ask. You guys definitely left some worthwhile and downright entertaining responses. Lol. Thank you all!

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Specializes in Hospice.

Having done the hiring for a SNF, I'll echo what other posters have suggested regarding professional attire.

I would also consider a smile to be part of your interviewing attire. I looked for candidates who presented with good hygiene and were neatly dressed (regardless of what they were wearing - I recognized some candidates had very limited resources). Those who brought resumes, references and copies of any certifications always impressed me (can be put in a simple pocket folder if you don't already have a portfolio type folder).

I typically scheduled interviews for times when the halls of the SNF would be very busy so I could observe how they navigated the halls/ residents. Shyness didn't concern me, I know it can be overwhelming when multiple different residents were "greeting" the candidate. I was more looking for reactions that didn't give the impression that the residents were "in their way"; basically good manners and being respectful of the residents. After all, the SNF is the residents home:)

Good luck!

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Always dress for the position as held by your interviewer.

Best of luck, let us know how it went.

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Agree with all the PPs!

The only thing I'd add is that there's one more situation where scrubs would be okay. At my facility, most units have you shadow (new hire or transfer) to see if you like the flow of the unit and you're expected to wear scrubs during the shadow since you might be hands-on. Right when you're done with your time block, you get pulled right from the unit by the manager to their office for the interview. It might sound obvious but I just want to say that if that's the case, don't feel bad about being in scrubs! There's no time to change and if you ask to go change the NM might be annoyed that you're making him/her wait.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.
That is not true at all. Wearing scrubs does not automatic equal sloppy, nor doed it mean youare trying to be some tv character. I am a firm believer in professional attire for interviews but there are some instances when you have to, due to yours and the interviewers schedule. I have only worn scrubs once to an interview but I would do it again if it were my only option.

Scrubs are sloppy by their very nature. I've had patients tell me that it looked like I was wearing pyjamas.

And hell no should they be worn for an interview. I've never had a potential employer have an issue with scheduling an interview around my work committments. The only time I had to go straight from work had my interview attire in the car, did a quick spit wash and changed from my scrubs and got the job.

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