What should you look for in interview flats? When, if ever, must you wear heels to an interview? Which are the most stylish kinds of flats for interviews? Reader L wonders:

I'm starting law school in August, and I've heard that heels (3-4″) are a MUST for interviewing and working at a law firm. However, I am a 6′ tall female. I never wear heels, since when I do, I tend to tower over everyone. Would it be appropriate to wear a nice pair of flats in my case?

Great question! We've talked about how to look professional in flats all the time, how to wear heels (if you're used to flats), and whether flats are professional enough for court.

As far as shoe questions go, this is important, so even though we've talked about it a lot, I want to stress it again: you don't need to wear heels to look professional. 

{related: check out our entire Guide to Women's Interview Attire!}

There are a number of reasons why you wouldn't want to wear heels — from feeling too tall (although hey, I say rock it out if you have the height!), to having foot injuries or issues, to just I-don't-wanna-itis.

What to Look For in Interview Flats

A few things that I would note about wearing flats for big events like interviews:

{related: the rules for interview shoes}

a) There are many, many, MANY professional options for flats — and there are many that look like bedroom slippers, sneakers, or other casual shoes. Unless you have ethical objections, look for leather and suede options over faux leather or fabric (and keep your shoes well maintained!), and if you want a sleeker look, consider a slightly pointed toe.

b) Be confident when you wear them. Don't feel like you have to apologize for your flats or explain them away on an interview. Any time any of your clothes or accessories distract you (or an interviewer), you lose.

{related: how to look professional in flats—all the time}

{related: cute flats for the office}

Readers, which are your favorite professional flats? Do you think any styles of flats look more professional than others?  Do you agree with my advice that you CAN interview in flats, even if you're 6′ tall?

The Best Kinds of Interview Flats

Reader-Favorite Polished but Comfortable Flats

We often include good looking, professional flats in our “Coffee Break” posts — but these are some of the reader's favorite flats that have stood the test of time. These would be my first purchases if I were looking…

Some of our favorite comfortable flats for work as of 2024 include M.M.LaFleur, AGL, and French Sole. On the more affordable side, check out Rothy's, Sam Edelman, and Rockport. We've also rounded up the best loafers for work, and our favorite sneakers for work outfits!

Investment Ballet Flats

If you want to make an investment in flats, these are some of the most classic options. AGL and Ferragamo are reader favorites for comfort, while Chloé, Chanel and Valentino are all recognizable status symbols.

Comfortable Low Heels for Work

If you're willing to consider a heel but feel like it must be low, or a “comfort shoe,” we've got you covered…

These are some of our favorite comfortable low heels for work as of 2024… also check out CK Calvin Klein, Trotters, Sam Edelman, and Sarah Flint!

Picture below via Stencil.

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Wondering how to thank your references if you're job hunting? Reader C has a great question…

I'm anxiously awaiting a few job offers–and am wondering if a $100 gift card to a delicious local restaurant is an appropriate thank you for each of my references? (The potential offers are for healthcare-related opportunities–hospital positions and consulting gigs.) What have you done in the past?

I first misread this question as how to thank your interviewers. (No gift cards to interviewers!)

I think this is a cute idea, but one that could be tweaked to make it even better:

Instead of gift cards, take your references to lunch. Ask their career advice, what they think your strong suits are heading into any new job (and, just for your ears, what they think your weaknesses might be!). Ask them how they got to where they are, what they might have done differently given the clarity of hindsight.

And then… stay in touch with them. Tell them how you're doing, ask them to lunch once a year or so and see how they're doing.

This is how you turn a work colleague into a mentor, at least in my experience. But if you're far away, a gift card is a nice idea. (Although, truth be told, I don't think I've ever thanked my references with any specific “gift”!) 

Readers, how do you thank the people who serve as your references on your resume?

Some must-read business books for women — update coming soon!

This post contains affiliate links and Corporette® may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. For more details see here. Thank you so much for your support!

Stock photo via Stencil (“thank you” printed on road). Originally pictured (2011): Steve's 80's Party, originally uploaded to Flickr by Bob. B. Brown.

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Reader A, a CPAA with 12 years of experience, writes with some great questions…

How does one negotiate a good compensation package? I have only ever worked for local firms. The salary data online seems to reflect “big 4” or equivalent pay scales. I have talked to a few headhunters and they all seem to think I should be making more than I am. What do I do when a prospective employer asks point blank what I am making now? I don't want to lowball myself.

This is a particularly apt question in light of this post on the Bucks blog, calling attention to another blog posting wherein the author admitted to “bumping” her current salary up $5,000 when her interviewer asked what she was paid, and then asking for another $5,000 when they offered her the job with a “matched” salary. Long story short:  it's illegal to lie about your salary in job interviews! So… don't try that tactic.

Psst: In honor of this series' original title, Tales from the Wallet — here's a wallet we love!

Our recommendation would be twofold. First, let's say that you're at Company X. if you can get TWO job offers from Company Y and Company Z, you can sometimes play them against each other — we would probably avoid naming names, at least unless pressed, and see if company Y will increase your salary to match what company Z is offering. Don't leave Company X out of the mix, either, unless you're looking for a new job because you hate your old one — rather than quitting outright, talk to the Powers that Be at Company X and say, “Company Y has offered me $__ to jump ship!” And see if Company X will match it… and then go forward from there.

A second recommendation would be to really look at what your lower-salary job is actually giving you. Do you get four weeks vacation? How are your health insurance benefits? Are there other perks, like discounts to a local gym, or on-site daycare? We would factor that into the discussion, once the interviewer raises the issue. For example: “I currently make $__ in dollars, but there are a number of perks that I've enjoyed for years and that you don't offer. To be honest, I would probably put a pricetag of $5K on those perks.” Be totally honest — and KNOW what perks the interviewer does and does not offer. In fact, this discussion might be a good time to assess those intangible perks.

This great article from CBS MoneyWatch also suggests classics like asking for a signing bonus, a performance bonus, stock options, or asking for more perks.

Readers, what are your best tips for salary negotiation? Any great victory stories to share?

The post Tales from the Wallet: Negotiating a Great Salary appeared first on Corporette.com.

Update: We still stand by the below advice on how not to gain weight over the summer recruiting season — but if you'd like to check out our more recent discussion on how not to gain weight as a summer associate, you can check it out here. 

Summer is nearly upon us! As law school, business school, and college  interns flood the workforce, calendars fill with networking lunches, team building meetings, and “get to know your coworkers” cocktail parties —  all with lots of food (and alcohol). Reader A is particularly worried about the summer associate life in BigLaw:

I'm about to start a job as a summer associate at a Big Law firm. I've been told to expect daily lunches out, and been warned about the corresponding weight gain that usually happens. I'm particularly sensitive about not wanting to be the High Maintenance Associate–if I'm daily asking for “dressing on the side,” will I come off as obnoxious? Any tips for navigating the summer? Thanks.

This is a great question, because the summer can be a really difficult time for both those being recruited and those doing the recruiting. We've talked about business lunch etiquette before, and we've also talked about trying to diet while working a corporate gig — but now let's talk maintenance. (Pictured:  Salad Lunch, originally uploaded to Flickr by 427.)

How Not to Gain Weight Over the Summer Recruiting Season

Some tips:

– Follow an 80/20 rule. There are a lot of opportunities to overindulge during the summer, both at work-related events and non-work related events. Do your best to follow a sensible, healthy diet about 80% of the time — and only aim for the steak frites / gourmet fried chicken / etc. entree about 20% of the time. If you're a heavy drinker, realize that most of your 20% choices will be in the alcohol field — there are a lot of liquid calories there.

– Seafood is your friend. Ounce per ounce, fish and shrimp have much lower calories than things like steak or red meat (leaner meats like chicken and turkey fall in the middle). So long as you're not ordering something fried, the seafood section of the menu should always be where you head first. (Caveat:  salmon is on the fattier side — but it is filled with so many healthy Omega 3 oils and other benefits that we frequently eat it as a “splurge.”)  Watch out for rich sauces with butter or cream — and don't be shy about ordering it on the side. (We don't think anyone will give you trouble for ordering things on the side — if you're really sensitive,  perhaps try to make no more than 2 modification requests when you give your order.)

– Salads aren't always the best bet for your meal. The dressing can be a problem, as noted by our reader, but other additions like croutons, nuts, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, and cheese can make salads extremely high calorie. We recommend ordering the plainest salad option as your appetizer — most restaurants serve mixed greens — and it really should not be a problem to ask the waiter to put your dressing on the side. (Here's one of our favorite tips — ask for lemon juice on the side, and spritz it over the plain salad. It's good by itself, or — if you are having a bit of the dressing, it really makes the dressing “pop.”)

– At catered parties, try to be aware of how many hors d'oeuvres you're eating. We've heard different rules for this — some people have a 3/1 rule, whereby they have to eat 3 healthy things for every 1 unhealthy thing they eat. This author's personal goal is to try to focus on the healthy foods (veggies, sushi, etc.) and only splurge on 3 really yummy hors d'oeuvres.

– Avoid drinks mixed with sugary liquids like tonic, juice, and liquors like triple sec. Instead of a vodka screwdriver, get a vodka soda. (Soda has no calories.)  Or, better yet, stick with wine or beer. It is in your best interest to avoid getting drunk at a work event, for more reasons than we can count.

– Finally:  Pay attention if your clothes are getting tighter. We like to use our jeans as a sign for when it's time to cut back, but a particular belt, pair of pants, a sheath dress, or even a button-front shirt can be a gauge. The trick is to wear them frequently enough (or at least try them on) that you notice. (And, dear readers, bad news:  if your sheets still fit on the bed, the dryer is not shrinking your clothes.)

Those are our top tips — readers, what are yours?

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Today's e-mail is from J, who has a question about bold hair choices and job interviews…

I'm a public policy grad student, graduating in May and applying for jobs all over the place , but many in DC (employers range from government-level, to think-tanks, to smaller non-profits). I am 22. Right now I am pretty average-looking: short, white, size 2, brown hair slightly longer than shoulder-length in a well-maintained cut. I found out this week that my close family friends' seven-year-old daughter has been diagnosed with leukemia. The girl and I are very close, and I think of her like my sister, so obviously I'm torn up about this. Her mom says she looks up to me, and I know I influence her behavior so I try to be a good role model. She's going to be getting chemo, the whole nine yards, and I am anticipating that she'll have a hard time if she loses her hair. I'm thinking about shaving my head to support her. Now I'll be honest and say that I've never had short hair, let alone shaved it before, and I do have some issues about the whole thing — but none of them outweigh my desire to to do something concrete to help the girl. However, my question is, do you think a shaved head would affect my chances at getting a job? Would it be likely to freak an employer out? Any general thoughts?

Wow. We have a lot of thoughts on this, and we're sure our readers will have more. We'll try to put our thoughts in a cogent order…

First: Our hearts go out to your sick friend, to her family, and to you. Words can't properly express how strongly we hope she gets better.

Second: We get what you want to do with the shaved head — words can't express it, and to shave your head along with her and show solidarity with her — this is a Good Thing that you want to do. A few further thoughts:

• It sounds like your friend has not yet lost her hair — we are unsure of how quickly a chemo patient loses their hair, or how definite hair loss is. (Background: a  good friend of ours endured a lot of chemo when we were around 19, and she didn't lose hardly any of her hair.)  And so you may be jumping the gun a bit to get your head shaved immediately.
• Do you see the girl often enough? It sounds as if you do — but if you only see her once every 3 months, you may want to reconsider, even though your gesture is incredibly magnanimous.
• Would you keep it shaved throughout her treatment? Or would you let it grow out after shaving it?

Third: Ah, yes, the job thing. There's no way around it, your job interviewers will DEFINITELY notice a shaved head. But:

• Anyone with a heart will sympathize with your reasons for doing it. So long as your job is behind the scenes, hopefully the person will look beyond your hair.
• If your job is NOT behind the scenes, or if Important People visit the office where you'll be working on a regular basis, you may want to prepare yourself — this may not be a job that you will get, unless the person in charge thinks they are running a young, hip shop (whether it be a think tank or a non-profit). Some people simply will not want an underling who makes more of an impact than they do.
• It will be your resume and transcript that wins you the interview — so your bald head won't be an issue until then.
• On the interview:  You should think about how to explain your bald head in the interview. We think a bald head does need to be explained, both because a) the interviewer might worry that you are sick yourself, and you should dissuade those fears, and b) this act of shaving your head says a lot about who you are — it speaks to your loyalty, your strength, your sense of self — and these are all good things that interviewers should know. (A quick tip — you might want to simplify the story and just say “my 7-year-old sister” and leave it at that, unless the interviewer delves further.)*

Fourth:  You are young. This is the time to shave your head, or dye your hair blue, or otherwise take fashion and beauty risks. Hair is a great place to take these risks, because it grows out and is back to normal in short order. Give yourself at least a few years until you force yourself to play it safe.

Fifth: We have less coherent thoughts on this, but as a stream:  We have a number of guy friends who shaved their heads rather than deal with dwindling hair (or because they thought it looked cool). We have had friends who actually did suffer hair loss because of chemo and had no choice but to rock the bald look. We also know some very fashionable women who shaved their heads just because they thought it complimented their bone structure (and we're sure we've seen at least, like, 3 models on America's Next Top Model get it done.)  A bald head really should not be a big deal.

We've spent limited time on the DC scene, though, so we asked a friend of ours who worked at numerous places (and was fairly powerful) before she left for greener pastures. Her thoughts:

My first instinct is that they may look at her and form (ignorant) opinions right away. My second thought is that it's a good conversation starter for her and shows a side of her that demonstrates commitment, which is an attractive quality for a job applicant. However, for # 2 to work, she has to come up with a great way to open up the reason for her hair pretty quick into each interview. … Also, I'd say that if an interviewer judges her by her hair, she probably wouldn't want to spend the majority of her waking hours with those people anyway.

All right, readers — what are your thoughts?

* UPDATE: Geez, commenters are going nuts over our suggestion that she simplify her explanation as much as possible. We stand by our advice to come up with a quick, easy way to explain your baldness, and be open to talking about the issue more if the interviewer wants to. This shouldn't be the focus of the interview, though. We totally disagree that saying her friend is her “sister” is a Lie in the capital L sense of the word — which should never be done in a job interview, obviously, and perhaps “cousin” would have been better suggestion. But: either way it could be explained further, very easily and quickly, if the interviewer wanted to talk about it.

Pictured.

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Should you thank an interviewer with an email or a card? We've wondered about this for a while as well, so reader J's question strikes us as particularly interesting…

After an interview, everyone knows that it is good manners to send a perfunctory “Thank You” note. However, is it still recommended that the “Thank You” note be a hand-written note sent through snail mail or is it equally appropriate to send a “Thank You” after an interview via email? I am old-fashioned and still send a hand-written note on nice Crane & Co. stationary, however, an email “thank you” would certainly get there faster. I am not sure what is considered appropriate these days!? Any thoughts??

First, we would say that the thank-you note should be far from perfunctory — it reinforces what you spoke about in the interview, why you're qualified for the job, and allows you to clarify anything that you worry came across poorly. (Pictured:  Orange notecards, 25 thermographed notecards for $152 at Fine Stationery.)

That said, we're sort of torn on how to send your interviewer their thank-you note. For us, it mostly comes down to a question of time (we are masters of the 7th-day thank you, which is just about the longest you can wait to send one). For the most part, then, we have done e-mail thank yous at least since 2003 or so. We have made exceptions for that, however. For example — a few years ago this author had a coffee catch-up with a man who has been a guiding force in my career since before grad school, the uncle of a friendly colleague, who happened to be working in my dream job. He and I have only met a few times over the past decade — I doubt he would recognize me on the street, even! — but his advice has not steered me wrong. We met for coffee, and again he gave invaluable advice, and I decided to send him a personal, hand-written thank-you note. As I was writing it out, it suddenly felt weird — my handwriting looked so messy on the page. My personalized stationery, normally reserved for Grandma and aunts, suddenly felt too “too.” It all felt maybe a little too… emotional. Girly. Not professional. Still, I struggled past these concerns and sent him the thank-note by mail.

Cut to 2 years later and I was trying to find our last correspondence to meet with him, and was alarmed to find no thank-you note in my e-mail files. Had I not sent one? It was only a very visual memory of dropping the note in a mailbox that jarred my memory. He never mentioned the note, so I have no idea what he thought about it (if anything). Still, that was the experience with the note. So our $.02 is to send the thank-you note by e-mail: gets there quicker, you know it was received, and you have a record for your files of what you sent.

But readers, what has your experience been? Let's take a poll… and please comment below.

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