As a designer, if you attend a job interview, would you wear a suit? (even if you know no-one in the studio dresses smartly on a day-to-day basis). I remember attending a design lecture once, given by one of those famous ‘trendy’ designer types from down in that there London. He was adamant that sort of thing didn’t matter and it was all about your portfolio.
I get that, but the attitude still jarred with me. Surely you’d like to employ someone with personal standards? Making an effort shows that you’ve got respect for the company and the interview process. At least get your feet under the desk before assimilating with the rest of the workforce.
You can be the most fabulous designer in the world, but if your personal attitude stinks, just how much use are you going to be? That would set warning signals in my mind. It’s like those multi-million pound footballers that have all the talent in the world, but are too idle to use it. If you can’t make an effort on day one at the interview, are you ever going to? Maybe. Maybe not.
All I know is in the design world, when you’ve made a name for yourself, you can flounce about all you like, and the brown-nose brigade will always love you. But you have to get there first (should you actually crave that level of sycophancy).