Compiled Bank Dress Codes
Want to know the dress code at various places so it might help out people like me that need to get a new wardrobe soon. every other thread I have searched for just turned into a retarded "which brand is better" thread.
So if you know it, please post the bank name, city/office, followed by business pro (suit)/business casual (tie)/etc. I will compile all the responses. If your worried about privacy please PM me and I will post it on here. This worked for the "how much $ for dinner thread" so hopefully it will work for this as well
Barclays NYC: Bus Formal
Is it?
Yes, professionals dress bus formal
Yea, they are probably the only BB to still be bus formal (mainly because Lehman was in the past), I would say most places are bus casual but can see more of the boutique banks to be bus formal. However, most people have a jacket and tie at the office just in case of client meetings.
how does this work in practice? unless the pants you are wearing on the day of one of these meetings is part of the suit that the jacket is from, it doesn't come together as business formal. it would instead come together as a sport jacket and pants...
drexelalum11: when does HR send out this information? sales pop up and there's plenty of time now to go shopping so it'd be nice to get stuff well in advance.
InassessableTangents: "business casual" means suit without tie? i thought it meant wso/">dress shirt and pants, maybe with tie--but don't know where i got that idea from.
A few months before you start, depends on the bank, but you can certainly just email them and ask for a copy if you want to get a jump on things. That said, I don't think you should, for the following reasons: A) There will always be sales B) Whatever you're buying on sale now is winter clothing, so won't be as versatile as some other options C) By pushing forward your purchase decision, you are foregoing interest income on your holdings and effectively increasing the cost of your clothes D) By purchasing now, you increase your risk; what if you get fat?
This worked for the "how much $ for dinner thread" because there was an actual purpose to it. This has no purpose, because 1) it has been asked before, as recently as two weeks ago and 2) HR will send you all this information before you start, in plenty of time to get what you need
Not sure I completely agree, would be nice to have a single consolidated resource. I have heard that there is not a huge variance between IB teams at the same office.. you are more likely to see all formal or all biz-cas than a split between teams that wear suits and teams that come in to work in dockers and loafers
Drexelalum11, you know its okay to not say anything
Just like how you basically said he wasted time posting this question instead of searching through historical threads, you also wasted the same amount of time responding to it
But Drexelalum11 is right and you will hear from H.R. regarding the dress code
Every buleg bracket is "business casual" - but the definition is a bit different.
Lehman and Bear were the only 2 that were business formal. However, certain groups within IBs have their own dress - our M&A and Industrials teams was 100% formal but everyone else was not
I personally like wearing ties becasue it ties it all together
Also, business casual is not your dockers + loafers since you can have a client meeting that pops up - so its really suit w/o a tie ... at that point there's not a HUGE difference between bus. casual and bus. formal so why not look spiffy
Agreed....
I like ties as well, I rock them sometimes..
Drexel, I'm curious, are you currently employed or still in college? You seem like a nice enough guy, but you often put yourself out there like you're an authority on everything IB-related. So I'm just curious if your views are coming from someone who's actually in the industry, or rather from someone who's trying to break into it.
That said, the lack of CUs responding to this thread's topic is probably an indication of the fact that doing so exposes to the forum where we work... !
Whether the bank you work for is business formal or business casual shouldn't have too much of an influence on your wardrobe. The only difference between business formal and casual are the number of suits and ties you're going to need. So, go take advantage of the sales to get your shirts, pants, a couple of suits and a few ties. If you later find out your bank is business formal, all you'll need is a few more suits and a few more ties.
Say you're about to start full-time for one of the few banks that still require business formal (i.e. Barclays), how many suits would you recommend as sufficient in a complete wardrobe? Also, if the dress code is business professional and say 3 suits is sufficient, do you alternate with the same 3 pants every week?
I like to alternate gray suit jacket with navy suit pants, and navy suit jacket with gray suit pants... to mix things up a bit and maximize your wardrobe. I'll even wear my suits backwards sometimes (Chris Cross-Style, for those of you old enough to know what that means).
In all seriousness, you can get by with as little as 2 suits if you're really pinching pennies but ideally 4-6 suits would be ideal if you need to wear a suit every day of the week... (I'm assuming weekends are business casual and not jeans, since its a more formal culture).
Do some people wear suit+tie even if the bank has business casual? What banks has business formal in NYC? The only I know is Barcelys, Lazard.
would grey pants blazer and tie do for bus formal
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