Title: “Tie Color Superstition”
General Information about Item:
Genre/SubGenre: Customary Folklore: Superstitions
Language: English
Nation of Origin: United States of America
Informant Data:
Shashwat Chaturvedi is a male, 19 year old Dartmouth College student in his junior year. He is currently studying Economics and Computer Science and is from Dallas, Texas. Shashwat participated in corporate recruiting during Summer of 2016 and tech recruiting during Fall of 2016. He intends on going into the tech industry after graduating.
Contextual Data:
The informant first heard of this superstition while in the midst of the corporate recruiting process at Dartmouth College, during the Summer of 2016. During interviews, both the interviewer and the interviewee wear business attire; if both are male, then a tie is considered part of business attire. The superstition is that if the interviewee wears a tie brighter than that of the interviewer, then the interviewee will be cursed with bad luck during the decision process for shining brighter than his or her interviewer. It is important to note that this superstition only applies when both the interviewer and interviewee are males, which may be an indicator of the gender imbalance within the finance industry.
Recording of Interview:
Transcript of Associated File:
Q: What is your name?
A: Shashwat Chaturvedi
Q: Where are you from?
A: Dallas Texas
Q: What do your parents do?
A: My mom’s a banker, and my dad’s a software engineer
Q: What year are you?
A: I’m an ’18
Q: What’s your major?
A: I’m a double major in Economics and Computer Science
Q: What extracurriculars do you do on campus?
A: I write for the DBJ, I’m actively involved with my fraternity, oh and I’m a part of the International business Council
Q: What do you plan on doing after college?
A: Uhhh I plan on going into the tech industry but I’m not sure at the moment
Q: So what do you know about corporate recruiting?
A: Uh I actually participated in it, during my uh sophomore summer, then I kinda got swayed towards tech because I realized it wasn’t for me
Q: Have you or anyone you know been involved in corporate recruiting?
A: Yea, most people I know actually have done it, it’s very easy to apply
Q: How did you personally get involved in recruiting?
A: Uh, just heard about upperclassmen doing it and they were like workshops, resources, emails about so I said why not?
Q: How did you prepare for networking?
A: They had a lot of information sessions from different banks and organizations, so went there and talked with people
Q: What were the info sessions like? The info sessions?
A: I wouldn’t say they were info sessions, more networking, it was nice to meet a lot of alumni, they provided a lot of resources, only con was the amount of people there
Q: Did you ever follow up with anybody you met at these info sessions?
A: Yea, a couple for sure
Q: When you say that there’s a sort of implicit etiquette when talking to people when you’re following up?
A: Yea, I guess there is, you want to get to talk with them a bit more
Q: Is there a 24 hour rule?
A: Yea, you want to wait 24 hours since it’s a sort of etiquette
Q: How were interviews for you?
A: They were fine, what I was expecting
Q: Was there a specific way you prepared for them?
A: Yea, just using vault guides and talking with upperclassmen
Q: What did you wear and why?
A: A normal business suit and tie, not to the info sessions though
Q: Would you say that you have any superstitions when it comes to attire or what you’re wearing?
A: Yea, I try not to wear any bright ties or accessory pieces that are too bright because there’s a superstition that wearing a brighter tie than your interviewer means bad luck when your decisions come out
Q: Do you have any brainteasers or horror stories?
A: I got a few mental math questions but I’ve heard of other people getting brainteasers
Q: Do you have any stories of other people?
A: Yea, a lot of them got tripped up, you just have to think your way through them
Q: Would you view the corporate recruiting process as a sort of rite of passage for people at Dartmouth?
A: Yea, I agree, it’s way too common for it not to be at Dartmouth.
Informant’s Comments:
It is interesting to note that the informant stated that he is not normally a superstitious person, but that he abides by this superstition. Therefore, anything such as this superstition that may give the interviewee an advantage is abided by.
Collector’s Comments:
I believe that this piece of folklore is another example of the importance of social interaction during the corporate recruiting process. In any other situation, the color of one’s tie may be seen as an insignificant detail that is overlooked, but during the corporate recruiting process, it is considered taboo to have a tie that is too bright.
Collector’s Name: Matthew Kang, Dartmouth College ’18