Genre and Sub Genre — Material Folklore: Consulting Interview Dress

Language: English

Country where Item is from: United States

 

Informant Data: Kai Yan was born in Guangzhou, China and moved to Iowa at a young age. He is a senior at Dartmouth College majoring in Economics and Chinese, and will be working at Parthenon-EY full-time in the fall. His favorite hobby is playing basketball.

Social Context: Given that appropriate dress within the contexts of interviews, Consulting or otherwise, can often be a confusing issue for many prospective interviewees, interviewees will reach out to those who have conducted interviews and have ideally secured offers from the interviews in question. And so the material folklore in question here is shared among more junior undergraduates, who have yet to really begin recruiting in earnest, and those who are more senior  and who more than likely have secured offers and have already worked in professional capacities. This folklore again is shared amongst both males and females, and among those pursuing degrees in Business more generally.

Cultural Context: Appropriate dress is something emphasized in cultures throughout the world. However, what constitutes appropriate dress changes based on the situation or the particular context one finds one’s self in. Given the highly competitive nature of Consulting Interviews and the myriad of things one needs to get “right” in order to secure an offer, we wanted to explore how one ought to dress in a Consulting interview and get a better sense for what constitutes appropriate dress. Towards this end, Kai Yan was interviewed by Mark Cui one-on-one in a study room in the library.

 

Item: Kai Yan noted that one must wear a well-fitting suit and that one must be cleanly shaven. He noted that one should also wear a tie. He also noted that one should maintain a high level of personal hygiene.

 

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Relevant Portion: 7:45 — 8:10

Transcript of Associated File:

• Mark Cui: What’s the Perfect way to dress for an interview in Consulting?

 

• Kai Yan: Definitely wear a suit … Make sure it’s not too baggy.. um .. it’s not 2002 anymore or the 2004 NBA draft with everyone’s suits like that .. so make sure you’re dressed clean.. Make sure you’re cleanly shaven … have a good tie….

General Comments:

• By and large, what we were told by our informants jibe. No meaningful variances noted.

Collector’s Name:

• Mark Cui

Tags/Keywords:

• Material Folklore, Consulting Interviews, Dress, Appearance