The many interviews that I have attended, I never met an "HR person" before I joined the company, in many cases, several months after joining.

Reading this and the previous linked article makes me think you are very very removed from the reality. As a commentor in the older posting said, large part of the interview process for my jobs were done on the phone. This is the same way I decide whether to bring someone in as well. I have never told by an HR person about the attire of a candidate either.

Yes, Gillette want everyone to shave three times a day. That doesnt mean, just like the HR person wants everybody else to be unconfortably fit into a hot suite just like they do.

You never had an in-person interview? I think I've always had phone interviews for a job. They help weed out the bad candidates, but I was never hired on the spot before I interviewed in person. By that time it's usually down to a few people. Then it comes down to not only answering the questions right, but personality, and yes appearence. They want to know if you will mesh well with the company. Don't dismiss the article so easily. My friend just drove 300 miles twice to do in-person interviews for the same company. They are still relevent.

Since the HR person is not really going to be the person you work for and in my experience, rarely understand the job in the first place, appearance is all they have to go on.

Many times I have seen empty suits hired and then proceed up the corporate ladder because GOD knows they can't do the work and it's best move on to something else they can't do.

Yep, White shirts, suspenders, red power ties, and neatly groomed hair will carry you far. Along with a bag full of corporate weasel speak. I once had to deal with one of these idiots when he failed to deliver some files I had given him since he was "the lead" and when I confronted him on it he said, "Somebody dropped the ball." He couldn't even take responsibility. He moved up, polished his resume and moved on. We used to call him "80% Rob", because he would do 80% of the work, declare victory, and move on. Of course the rest of us were left to clean up his messes.

But he was just one of many I've seen where appearance trumped capabilities.

The candidate who showed up to interview in my office for a programmer analyst position that had on a ball cap, tennis shoes and his pants unzipped did not get the job.

I figured his code will look the same way, sloppy.

You figured, based on outward appearance, that his product would be messy. Have you seen many CLEAN artists, mechanics, butchers? Perhaps he has discovered efficiency - work on what matters. If you don't like how I look - look somewhere else. Look at the product and the skill not the package.

Typical team-lead stuffed-shirt attitude.