It’s safe to say Tyreshia Morgan, a 28-year-old from California, has the internet split about what is appropriate for an interview and what isn’t.
She exclusively shared her experience of being “dress-coded” by a recruiter with PEOPLE and gave some more context about what really happened.
Morgan attended a job interview in shorts, prompting the recruiter to comment on her outfit.
Instead of outright rejecting her for the position, the recruiter offered Morgan the chance to return another day after changing into more suitable attire.
Despite the opportunity to reschedule, Morgan chose not to pursue the interview.
Before we get into what she told PEOPLE watch her video again:
@mtyreshiadaily I cannot believe the recruiter asked me to change my interview clothes then come back. I look very neat and professional, so no! #jobhunting #fypシ゚viral ♬ original sound – Tyreshia✨
During an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, Morgan opened up about her experience with the job recruiter that day and explained her reasoning to stand by her outfit choice, which was questioned when the “last-minute” job interview arose.
“That day I was doing some job hunting … I saw that the recruiter emailed me around 10 a.m.,” Morgan tells PEOPLE exclusively. “We sat on the phone for 30 minutes and then we scheduled an interview the same day.”
Morgan says that she was being considered for a position at a tech company, an industry and office culture she’s familiar with having “worked in tech before” elsewhere.
The interaction with the job recruiter went like this:
“We sat down and did an intake, like a briefing. She asked me a few questions.
I told her my background and experience. She really wanted me to meet the manager so we can get an offer on the table,” Morgan explains.
“She went back and spoke with the manager and the manager said, ‘I would like to show her around the building, go over more details in the interview — but she’s in shorts so I can’t do that, so she’ll have to come back,’ ” she continues.
Morgan was given the opportunity to go home, change and reschedule the interview — but she chose not to.
“The recruiter just basically rejected me because I was wearing this … I ended up canceling the second interview. I wasn’t feeling that,” she says of why she didn’t go back.
Meanwhile, Morgan says she “didn’t think” her outfit “was out of any type of professional dress code.” She recalls, “I thought I looked neat. I said in my [TikTok] I would show up to an interview like this. I felt like the shorts were appropriate. The Internet kind of blew up after that.”
In the viral TikTok — which has racked up 5.8 million views since it was posted on Aug. 14 — Morgan is seen showing off her interview outfit at home.
She wore a white sweater over a solid white top that was tucked into her black shorts, accessorized with black framed glasses and her hair pulled back into a sleek bun.
“I took a shower, got dressed, I had just got done doing laundry and I saw those pieces sitting there,” Morgan recalls of her outfit-picking process. “I almost put on a blazer, but it was so hot that day. I took the blazer off and put on a cardigan and I was like, ‘I look very neat. I looked demure.’ I was going over the whole TikTok verbatim and I felt confident,” she says, referring to Jools Lebron’s now-viral phrase.
As for whether Morgan had any doubts about opting for shorts prior to the interview? “No,” she admits. And despite being asked to go home and change, she says she “wasn’t offended.”
“I was standing by my outfit,” Morgan says. “I thought I looked very professional. Although the shorts were a little bit above fingertips … They weren’t shorts that were too short. So I just felt like I looked okay for a professional environment.”
Morgan tells PEOPLE that commenters on her TikTok video are split over whether her outfit is professional workplace attire.
“Some people are saying it’s considered inappropriate, but there’s about 20% or more people that are saying [they] see nothing wrong with [my] outfit.”
She also notes that some commenters are criticizing her decision to pass on the second opportunity at interviewing for the position. But “I don’t feel regretful,” Morgan says.
However, when asked if she’d opt for shorts for another job interview in the future, she says, “probably not.”
“I don’t like to be turned away and waste my time and waste other people’s time,” she explains.
Morgan — who notes she’s currently in the onboarding process for a new job — adds,
“I would definitely respect the company and their dress code policies and make sure I’m in the proper attire.”
