I’m a young woman. Is a business suit necessary for every job interview with a Taiwanese company regardless of the industry?
Or is a polished shirt/suitpants, shirt/skirt combination acceptable also?
- People don’t wear shoes in Taiwan. Bring a pair of flip-flops.
- A pair of sweat-pant pajamas.
- Don’t forget a T-shirt with unintentionally amusing Chinglish that you don’t understand written on it, such as “We reach for the sky. Neither does civilization.”
- Always carry a bag of binglang in your pajama pants pockets. Crouch on your haunches and slowly chew, spitting on the carpet occasionally. Offer to share your nuts with co-workers as a friendly gesture.
- You may need to get a crew-cut.
It depends on the industry.
[quote=“teacup”]I’m a young woman. Is a business suit necessary for every job interview with a Taiwanese company regardless of the industry?
Or is a polished shirt/suitpants, shirt/skirt combination acceptable also?[/quote]
I’d say for an interview with a buxiban, anything you mentioned would be fine. For an interview with some other company, I’d play it safe and wear a business suit (with a skirt).
However, for when you’re working, you probably won’t need to be well-dressed at all. Of course, you’ll be able to take your cue from your coworkers after you start. It always amused me to see the nervous interviewees at one company I worked at here; they were so dressed up, in a frightening contrast to those of us who had already been hired. Foreigners: scruffy would be a charitable description - usually in jeans and a T-shirt, with sandals; the office xiaojies: evidently moonlighting on Linshen Bei Lu during off-hours - one memorable outfit consisted of a mini-skirt, mesh stockings, knee-high boots, and a skin-tight see-through sleeveless shirt with a design of florescent green skulls; the shirt also had three slashes from side to side across the front. Not only was she practically naked, she glowed in the dark as well.
bababa is right. Office attire in Taiwan is about the same as in America and probably Australia as well. It also depends on how much you will interact with the public. Engineers dress informal. Salespeople wear suits.
I wore a suit to the interview, casual slacks and a nice shirt (no tie) for the first month, and now I’m wearing jeans half the week with a clean shirt (not a T-shirt). I could go more casual but I think I’ll draw the line there. I actually just asked my direct supervisor before the first day what the dress code is. He told me I could go to jeans but I might want to introduce that slowly. So that’s what I did. I work at an office where we receive most guests on a separate floor. Hope this helps.