Should You Wear a Novelty Necktie For a Job Interview?

You're fortunate enough to get invited for a job interview. You have prepared well - have done your research, polished your resume, and memorized your lines. You got everything in place. The only thing that's left for you to do is to dress up for the big day. It's wise of course to check out your wardrobe and see what you should be wearing. You probably had in mind the ideal look - the suit, the dress shirt, the trousers, the leather shoes, and the tie.

You want to stand out among other applicants of course, and the only thing you could probably customize now is your accessories, particularly your tie. Sometimes it's not that simple to pick out a tie. But there's general rule you should not dare forget. Get yourself into trouble deciding which tie to wear, but never even think of wearing a novelty tie.

It's that simple and it makes a lot of sense.

Except perhaps if you're not serious about passing the interview in the first place, or it is specifically required.

Novelty tie on professional attire is more than inappropriate. It's just plain dead wrong. Sure you need to impress. Dress to impress, yes, but it's surely not dress to success. Some may think that novelty ties are cool and actually likeable. It shows your fun and lighter side. It instantly tells something about yourself, like if your tie's print got your favorite cartoon character or superhero print. It's so obvious.

But if you want to impress and you have all the intention to pass at the same time, skip the novelty ties. They're not a very good idea. If you want to tell your interviewer something about yourself, you can probably do that during your interview, and it's absolutely not necessary to get a tie that conveys your idea.

Novelty ties, no matter how cute or funny, are loud and flashy. They would instantly communicate a rather negative connotation about you the moment you entered the room. Imagine your interviewer's eyes nailed on your novelty tie for several seconds. Novelty ties are a shocker. It may take a tremendous amount of self confidence to pull it off, but you still risk yourself of being prejudged as unprofessional and lousy. If you're half convinced, put yourself then in your interviewer's shoes. Would you be sincerely glad to see an applicant wearing a novelty tie?

He may have everything. His credentials are complete and rather competitive. He's almost the ideal and perfect candidate for the position. However, you can't take your mind off the tie his wearing. He will definitely make the impression, and get the attention. But, unless he knows the culture of the company he's applying for, he may not be able to pull off the stunt of wearing a novelty necktie on a serious job interview.