Wearing a bow tie to an interview.

I've been doing a lot of interviewing recently. No bow ties, some jumpers, mostly suits.

I wouldn't wear a bow tie to an interview for an engineering position. Unless the company specialises in modifying clown cars.

If you wear a suit, please, please clean any dust off it. I had a few turn up with dust in the sleeve seams and it just looked as if they really didn't give a hoot.
 
danza said:
I've been doing a lot of interviewing recently. No bow ties, some jumpers, mostly suits.

I wouldn't wear a bow tie to an interview for an engineering position. Unless the company specialises in modifying clown cars.

If you wear a suit, please, please clean any dust off it. I had a few turn up with dust in the sleeve seams and it just looked as if they really didn't give a hoot.
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It never fails to amaze me how sloppy people can be. This is a job interview ffs. It could be one of the biggest moves you make in life, it's literally your bread and butter and you turn up dressed like that.

Instant flag for me. No chance, especially at an engineering firm, where a keen eye for detail is pretty much required and yet these guys can't even spend 10 minutes in front of a mirror making sure they don't look like crap.

Honestly boggles my mind.
 
Hades said:
The thing about interviews is that you want to avoid any reason NOT to employ you. A bow tie is a risky proposition because the interviewer may have either good or bad preconceptions about people wearing then.

Generally it's safer to avoid anything eccentric.
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Exactly that .... unless there are solid reasons for thinking it's a good bet, and they will be few, and far between.
 
More serious answer now, if you'll enjoy wearing it and you wouldn't have posted if you don't want to, then wear it.

A bow-tie is a kind of force multiplier. If you're really awful in the interview, then the bowtie will just be the sour cherry on a cake of humiliation. But then at that point, you wouldn't have got the job if you hadn't worn it either. But at the other end of the spectrum, if you do well in the interview and they like you, a bow-tie will add that extra bit of flair that sets you apart and makes you memorable. Plus you'll probably feel good about yourself for wearing it.

Consider it this way: life is going to be full of decisions like this every day for the rest of your life. If you decide to be "normal" today, then what will stop you being "normal" for every other day of your life. It's not going to be the reason you don't get the job (unless it's a really terrible place to work anyway), and if you do get the job, you'll walk out of it with the confidence to wear a bow-tie any time you damn well feel like it. And that's a confidence you can't put a price on. ;)

Wear the damn thing, refuse to worry about it in the interview, and damn well look how you want.
 
I went for a job interview some years back and the interviewer had the most amazing bowtie/moustache combo you'd ever seen. A proper full-on handlbar moustache and bright yellow bowtie with purple spots.

For the whole bloody interview my gaze just kept on going back to them. I couldn't help it.
 
The type of person who would normally wear a bow tie (as opposed to making some kind of oblique statement) wouldn't require the acceptance or encouragement from a computer forum. They'd just wear it and precisely zero effs would be given.
 
JOSH86 said:
Not something I would wear for myself but if you have the charisma and gravitas too pull it off then go for it.
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This - if you know you're a strong candidate for the role it can't hurt. Certainly in some roles it would be fine, even a good thing to stand out.

Put yourself in the interviewers shoes - they'll have been interviewing all day, even a few days, seen several candidates, have their notes and the completed skills matrix etc... Assuming you've ticked all the right objective boxes (and if you haven't the tie is the least of your worries!), the decision comes down to a subjective one. In that situation it would be a rubbish future manager who rejected you because of the tie - ie you wouldn't want to work for someone like that anyway!

Think of it as a filter, if you don't get the job because of the tie - you wouldn't want it anyway. :)
 
I can't think of a single reason to wear a bow tie to an interview unless directed by the interviewer.
 
No not for a job interview.

It would be the only thing they remembered you for.

Like when you know you've said one thing that on its own has litterally tanked an otherwise good interview.
 
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