I'll probably be job hunting in a few months once I finish up school. I was either going to get the Jcrew FActory Thompson suit or the Ultimate Grey indochino suit. However, Indochino doesn't give out coupons as much anymore and the Thompson suit is all out of my size.
I wouldn't get a indochino suit for an interview. A lot of the ones I've seen have weird looking, overly aggressive waist suppression. I'd suggest getting something a bit more classic for a first suit.
I'm 39.5 chest and 31 waist. My budget Ideally would be between 300-400. I can't imagine myself wearing a suit often besides special occasions as my future work does not require it.
I tried on an Alfani Red suit a couple years ago and was pretty disappointed by the fit - surprisingly low armholes, not a lot of waist taper, pretty wide pants. That's when I learned to take Macy's "slim fit" stuff with a grain of salt. But that was a long time ago and things might have changed - you'll have to try it on to know if it will work for you or not.
I've had good luck with Banana Republic's "tailored fit" suits. They are about $500 full-priced but you can get them much closer to $300 with a good discount code. There's a 30% discount code today, for example, which takes them down to about $350. (My MO is always to wait until those rare 40% discounts come along and snag what I want, but 30% ain't bad if you're in a rush to buy.)
What jackets / sportcoats have you tried on and how did they fit? Do you fit better in a 40R, 39S, etc? I'm asking because I'm gonna be hitting up a lot of thrift stores this weekend and I can keep an eye out for you if you'd like.
My main suit (which has seen at least 15-20 wears in the past year) is a wool Alfani Red gray suit. I agree it's not very slim or trim looking. That being said, it's held up very well and looks good for my main wear purpose (interviews). I got it for around $200, and for that I think it's a decent buy, but if I was choosing again, I would go for the J. Crew Factory Thompson suit. I don't need two suits right now, otherwise I'd have bought it in an instant. It looks great. Also I second the BR rec, I've liked the suits I tried on in store, a lot.