Linkedin Profile Picture: Bow tie instead of tie?

What do you monkeys think about this?
Note:
-I am at the junior / Analyst level
-I want to move into Private Equity (Germany, UK or Russia)
-I have LOTS of both bow ties and ties

For me the situation looks like this

Pro:
-it differentiates you from others of which 99,9999% wear a tie
Con:
-It might look too pretentious

Thx for any helpful advice

42 Comments
 

No way.

[quote]The HBS guys have MAD SWAGGER. They frequently wear their class jackets to boston bars, strutting and acting like they own the joint. They just ooze success, confidence, swagger, basically attributes of alpha males.[/quote]
 

NO!

"It's very easy to have too many goals and be overwhelmed by them... The trick is to find the one thing you can focus on that represents every other single thing you want in life." -- @"Edmundo Braverman"
 

be true to yourself man, don't listen to these haters, someone has be be different, it's what makes us all so special. be your own man. wear a bow tie; wear a head scarf; wear suspenders; wear NOTHING.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
Best Response
Carlson’s 2006 decision to part with neck wear he wore to make himself special as a teenager was overdue, but thank goodness he did it before David Sedaris came out with his 2008 book When You Are Engulfed in Flames. After wearing a bow tie all across the country and getting various reactions, he figured out the problem:

It’s a pretty sorry world when wearing a bow tie amounts to being “out there.” I’m just not sure which is worse, the people who consider it out there that someone’s wearing a bow tie, or the person who thinks he’s out there for wearing it.

It was my friend Frank, a writer in San Francisco, who finally set me straight. When asked about my new look he put down his fork and stared at me for a few moments. “A bow tie announces to the world that you can no longer get an erection.”

And that is exactly what a bow tie says. Not that you’re powerless, but that you’re impotent. People offer to take you home not because you’re sexy but because you’re sex-less, a neutered cat in need of a good stiff cuddle.

http://blog.shankbone.org/2009/09/09/david-sedaris-tucker-carlson-and-j…

Not sure I agree with everything in there, but it's relevant to the whole tucker Carlson embarrassment.

Seriously, anyone who was ~20 years old back in 2005 and had heard of the Daily Show at that time (something like 70% of the population) is going to have trouble taking a bowtie seriously.

 

Alright.. thanks guys. I will save my bow tie look for later i guess.

I was already so far beyond the point of no return that I couldn't remember what it had looked like when I had passed it.
 
Floridarolf

Alright.. thanks guys. I will save my bow tie look for later i guess.

you're doing yourself a disservice, you're better than that, free your mind young-one, feel the force, there is no spoon, you can make the jump to bow tie heaven.
"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

Don't wear a bow tie unless you are wearing a tuxedo.

"He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man." ― William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
 
IlliniProgrammer

^^ Even then I'd go for a black tuxedo tie rather than a bowtie. But that's just me. Black bowties are acceptable on a tux.

First serious post for me in this thread.

You have no class. Dude, no one over the age of 17 should wear a tie when in a tux. Not even Jay Z.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

Ok, so no bow ties... what about golden ties?

I was already so far beyond the point of no return that I couldn't remember what it had looked like when I had passed it.
 

It was definitely a 100% serious question

I was already so far beyond the point of no return that I couldn't remember what it had looked like when I had passed it.
 

If you have a large tie and bow tie collection, sounds like you're not just some poser with a clip-on. Do it. I remember that we joked to a new guy to an engagement that the client only allowed bow ties as part of the dress code. The new guy actually wore a bow tie the first day...so it was like "okay, we got you, haha." Then he wore another one the day after that...and for the whole week, with different ties in his collection. It became his thing. And to be honest, it was awesome.

 

My guess would be there is a 10% chance you can pull it off. Essentially your whole look as to be "cool" and effortless, but in 90% of cases bankers are going to think you're a clown.

It's a bit like the suspenders and so on.

From a pure risk point of view, it is a gamble. Do you want to gamble?

 

It's pretty simple. Are you from the South? If so, it's a way of life and completely acceptable. I'm from Atlanta, and nobody here bats an eye at bowties. BUT if you're from the north or west, no way. You'd look like an ass.

B.
 

I think the answer is clear here. Some people think it's fine, most people think it's not. Even if it was the other way around, you should avoid it, for the simple reason that it's quite controversial, and you don't know where the people in your company are going to stand (especially the ones higher than you).

You can take that risk when you're higher up.

 

if not a joke, I woudn't.

like ChiTown82 said "let your work and knowledge of the industry speak for itself and stop wasting time worrying about petty stuff" and better focus on something really important.

 

I already attended Company parties with a bow tie and received both positive and negative Feedback. Some People love the bow tie, some hate it... i love it, thats for sure.

However, the comments on this post indicate that it would be very risky to wear a bow tie on the linked-in Profile Picture. Thus, i will probably not do it.

Thanks to all that commented seriously here, I really appreciate!

I was already so far beyond the point of no return that I couldn't remember what it had looked like when I had passed it.
 

Once used a Bow-Tie photo from my prom as it was the only professional head-shot I had. I cannot tell you how badly received it was, even my dad who is in IT gave me shit for it.

It's the epitome of pretentiousness, avoid at all costs.

Tie > Bow-Tie

Ignore my Title and Industry - I can't seem to change it under 'Edit Profile' lol
 

Generally, no.

That being said, I'm wearing one in mine, but it is holding an award I accepted on behalf of the firm at a black tie awards dinner, not a professional headshot. In my mind, that is acceptable.

The only difference between Asset Management and Investment Research is assets. I generally see somebody I know on TV on Bloomberg/CNBC etc. once or twice a week. This sounds cool, until I remind myself that I see somebody I know on ESPN five days a week.
 

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