The Suit: Why I Wear It

When I interned at a sports-tech startup the summer after my sophomore year, I showed up on the first day in a button down dress shirt, neck tie and a gray suit jacket thrown on?after?I arrived at the office having biked to work.

I intended to learn and make the most of the summer after a challenging year, and my first lesson on day one was that I had overdressed.

When I say office, I actually mean a house whose converted basement hosted the product and analytics team — all of whom shook my hand that morning wearing a T-shirt of their favorite sports franchise, shorts and in some cases, flip-flops for the 80 degree day. The company’s founder joked that if I showed up the next day with another tie, he’d grab a pair of scissors and snip just below my collar. Without protest, I showed up with Giants gear and my favorite basketball shorts on day two.

It’s no secret that most companies regardless of size don’t have a dress code nearly as open-ended. Even though I didn’t ask twice about not having to sweat through a dress shirt on the morning bike ride, I knew that future workplaces, conferences and networking opportunities wouldn’t be dotted with Steph Curry and Buster Posey shirts.

Shortly thereafter, The Suit became a thing. My family and pre-2018 circles associate me with T-shirts and shorts, but chances are if you’ve seen me after that, you know what The Suit entails.

Some of the best career advice I’ve received was that you never know who you’ll connect with at any given moment, whether it be in-person or through the digital portal of your choosing. Back in 2018, when the majority of my interactions were limited to that basement and a handful of like-minded thinkers, I didn’t hop on too many calls with clients or even a single Zoom call. But on the last day of the internship, a role in which I made so many mistakes and learned what it takes to be a professional, my final takeaway was that it doesn’t matter what you know if other people don’t know how effectively you can lead when asked.

I once had the privilege of sharing a conversation with a UCLA admissions officer who outlined her reality: imagine 800 applications with identical test scores, spotless GPAs, wonderful stories of creativity, leadership and perseverance… and being able to only accept 10 of them. Whether it be pursuing an education or breaking into a competitive industry, it’s just not enough to be qualified. It’s a crapshoot roll of the dice that comes down to the smallest of differences.

The sport industry is an equally challenging code to crack. I won’t dive into exact figures, but one of the internships our organization posted this year received several hundreds of applications for a single 10-week role. While it doesn’t always seem right to turn away hundreds of qualified candidates without so much of an in-person interview, it’s the name of an unfair game.

With all of this in mind, I can’t even begin to describe how incredibly fortunate I’ve been in my career. When I returned to school in Fall 2018, I led a staff of 30 student-journalists and had the privilege of covering the Cal Football team. That led to a temporary role with the athletic program’s staff, which led to a position with the Raiders just down I-880 in the East Bay. While these aren’t the positions that I talk about at length in career discussions, the people I met in these roles are the ones who elevated my career and convinced me that The Suit worked.

With the exception of that first summer of T-shirts and shorts, I’ve made an effort to dress up as much as possible. The signature suit jacket and dress shirts I’ve worn every step of the way were rarely the expectation, whether it be on the job or simply walking around campus. But I knew how razor-thin the margins were between a job offer and the next qualified candidate up.

The Suit has come with its fair share of raised eyebrows and scoffs, particularly on flexible Fridays or days when there’s seemingly no reason to dress up (for clarity, Major League Baseball and the Red Sox have never mandated more than a nice shirt and slacks).

So why did I keep wearing The Suit 3–4 times a week, and continue to do so today? It all goes back to never knowing who you might meet on any given day. I’ve met for coffee with Berkeley’s community leaders in The Suit. I’ve shaken hands for the first time with Cal Football’s Justin Wilcox, FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver, and Red Sox President Sam Kennedy and CFO Tim Zue in The Suit. I’ve sprinted through the bowels of football stadiums at 2:00 am, taken fans on weekend tours and cleaned up empty beer cans in The Suit.

In an industry that unfairly tells its most qualified candidates “Thank you for applying; we’ve decided to move forward with another…” more often that not, I’m hopeful that the people I cross paths with can at least remember that guy in The Suit. Whatever ultra-competitive industry you’re striving to make your mark in, it largely comes down to the people you meet, the way they remember you and the little things you did to give put yourself in position to do your best work. The gray suit jacket is just one of the little things that has made a big difference.

I say all of this recognizing that not everyone has the means to readily afford a nice set of work clothes. If you or anyone in your circles feels comfortable reaching out, I would love to connect (see below) and help you out — no questions asked and an open invitation to Fenway Park if you’re in the area. While the industry gets more and more competitive by the year, I’m a staunch advocate that everyone should at least have the opportunity to be at their best and tell their story.

Just like showing up on time and working smart doesn’t lead to immediate results, dressing up doesn’t automatically open any doors or guarantee a favorable outcome. But it does put you in a better position to be remembered and stand out from a dense crowd of equally qualified leaders.

And if you want to think of other strategies to create an environment where you’ll be at your best, beyond dressing up, there are an infinite amount of possibilities. Here are a few more:

• Ballpark:?Shake your boss’s hand after a long game, thanking them for the opportunity to be a part of the team.
• Newsroom:?Leave hand-written notes of encouragement during a stressful production cycle.
• General Office:?Deliver holiday cards to everyone in your department, and leave their favorite coffee order on their desk on a Monday morning.

Contact: [email protected]

LinkedIn:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/josh-yuen/