I-Like-To-Bike

Regardless of how I got there or what the business, I would be wearing appropriate clothing for a job interview when I walked in the door. I wouldn't give an interviewer something weird or juvenile in my appearance to wonder about like dirty or sweaty clothing, disheveled or unwashed appearance, smartphone obsession, headphones, lycra clothing, and yes, no backpack unless it was a low wage dead end job for dropouts.

StarBiker

That's an expensive place.

StarBiker

Go in there lookin buck wild. Really depends on the job. You can overdress, even if you aren't a dropout.

McBTC

The physician bicycle-enthusiast is more likely to drive to the office and earn enough to spend a lot of dough training for an Ironman to be held in Hawaii than to ride a hybrid bike to work in a Hawaiian Luau shirt.

I-Like-To-Bike

1. It is doubtful if most non-cyclists could identify a recent or an expensive bike from any other bike if all were clean.

2. It is doubtful if many people who do make a decent yearly wage/salary and/or have a lot of money, and do ride bikes to work (or anywhere else) are living car free.

I-Like-To-Bike

Are you the poster who previously was wondering how people could possibly afford smartphones and associated data plans, or how they could possibly afford cars and vacations and such?

cooker

You invented everything on that list except the backpack. It's like you and McBTC have to insinuate that anybody car free is a dirty loser. So, since you said "regardless of how you got there" it sounds like you might hypothetically bike there. If you did bike to an interview, what would you do to avoid some red flag? Would you bike in the interview clothes with no stuff you had to carry like tools or helmet, leave everything with the bike, stash any paraphernalia somewhere hidden? Or would you consider biking too risky?

cooker

My CEO sometimes bikes to work. A lot of professionals in cities do.

https://lawyerist.com/10-tips-bike-commuting-lawyer/

I-Like-To-Bike

Is your CEO or the bike commuting lawyer living car free?

I-Like-To-Bike

McBTC and myself have "insinuated" nothing of the kind.
You are just projecting your own fears/opinions.
All of the above are possibilities, except for the risky part. I recommend reducing unnecessary risk of being considered too stupid to act like an adult or not able to know any better by not acting like a jackass and hoping nobody will notice or will ignore it if noticed.

cooker

Probably not, but that wasn't the point of StarBiker's comment. Here's a different lawyer, who is car-free, as far as I can tell. He says "I moved to Toronto in 2009 and I’ve only used bicycles to get around here". Lawyer On a Bike: Interview with Ian Flett ? The Urban Country

cooker

I'm not sure who you are recommending that too. It wouldn't be an insinuation, would it?

The risky part would be that the interviewer might see you with the bike before or after the interview, and who knows, that might be some kind of deal breaker for them.

I-Like-To-Bike

If the job seeker is paranoid perhaps he doesn't qualify for any job, except perhaps for blogging.
Who knows if the wrong color tie or socks, or hair style, or tattoo or jewelry, or perfume might be some kind of deal breaker, let alone race, gender, age or anything else imagined or not. A rejected job seeker can always blame a rejection on the evil interviewer's hangups, imagined or not.

cooker

This is like asking John Forester if he would ride in a bike lane if it happened to be on the same street he was using - he can't give a straight answer. Do think it would be risky to bike to an interview, no matter how professionally you presented yourself, because if they noticed you came by bike, thev might have some kind of negative reaction?

What about the rest of you?

wphamilton

It was not an issue for me - there was no negative reaction and I was hired. Contractor, software engineer position. Having a car, or the right kind of car, isn't an issue the way it once was.

I-Like-To-Bike

You really are uptight worrying about how someone, somewhere might have some kind of negative reaction to someone bicycling, somewhere, eh? I will leave it to professionals to give you a "straight answer" to your peculiar concern.

I-Like-To-Bike

Nobody is claiming that anecdotes or outliers cannot be found by Google Search.
Does a list of anecdotes and/or individuals from hither and thither who ride bicycles to work gathered up by Google searching make a "car free living movement"; or is it supposed to mean something significant about car free living, misconceptions, or anything else? Other than almost anything is possible and some people probably can be found on a Google search doing it or trying to.

cooker

I'm not sure what your objection is to offering an opinion. It's either a fact or a myth that going to job interviews by bike might affect your chances of getting hired, all other things being equal; and as to whether "someone, somewhere" might have a negative opinion, certainly there are people even in this thread who make disparaging remarks about cyclists, and/or car-free people, so I think it's very reasonable to think about whether job interviewers might have those same prejudices. The question is not about P&R, not about supposedly self-righteous people telling others how to live, not about airy-faerie fantasies that will never come true or whatever else your usual stereotypical objections are to thread topics, so I don't see what's holding you back. Would you bike to an interview? Would you deliberately avoid it in case it made a difference?

cooker

Did you know ahead of time that they were likely to be open-minded or even positive about people who bike to work, or did you just not worry about that?

I-Like-To-Bike

No problem, you have demonstrated numerous times that you "don't see" what you don't want to see or acknowledge. I already answered your "concern" and said it doesn't matter how I or anyone else arrives at the building for an interview or how they present themselves coming or going to that location. We all walk into and out of the interview room.

I recommend that anyone serious about getting a job present a professional appearance for the interview which does not include looking like they are entering or exiting a gym, a neighborhood bar, pick-up baseball game, or are delivering a package from a bicycle courier service. Unless the interview is for a job at a bicycle messenger service.

cooker

That helped clarify it for me, thanks, as a previous post suggested you prefer that others ("professionals") answer.

Just so there's no misunderstanding - is that advice specifically addressed to anyone here, as it wasn't really brought up as an issue?

McBTC

you say loser-- I say no... there is absolutely nothing wrong with being dirty and car-free

ironwood

I know millionaires who are car light, and I know someone who is over their head in debt and will drive two hundred yards to buy a pack of cigarettes.

I-Like-To-Bike

You and any other so-called LCF person who shares this obsessive concern about transportation to an interview, the car parking facilities, and/or if corporate spies are watching for bicycling employees or job applicants, should question yourselves about why you are so fearful that someone, somewhere just might not be neutral about the appearance of a bicyclist on their personal radar, or be shocked, shocked that someone just might not look favorably on a job applicant who doesn't care if he or she presents themselves in a professional manner for a job interview and believes it is a requirement for an interviewer to ignore such an atitude during an interview.

McBTC

You mean, their mansions only have 2-car garages?