Pin at interview?
 

I have an odd question. I have a business lunch/job interview tomorrow. Would it be inappropriate to wear my sorority pin? I will probably err on the side of caution and not wear my pin but if someone thinks it's a good idea that I wear it then I will reconsider. Thanks

its really up to you.. i personally dont' wear my pin at interviews, but if you feel it appropriate and think it may help you win a job, then go for it

I have always worn my pin to interviews. They have never said anything to me about it. Alot of professional people wear pins that they are a member of. We are just members of greek organizations! Im proud of my pin, and ive always gotten the job! If you want to wear it, go for it!

Good Luck with your meeting!

Greek love,

Nikki

Re: Pin at interview?
 

I've discussed this in the past with others who do interviewing. It can work for you, if the interviewer is a greek, because they realize that you can budget your time well, etc. However, it can work against you if the interviewer is anti-greek, or has a particular problem with your GLO.

Just my $.02.

honeychile

lionlove,
I would err on the side of caution with this.
You want to keep the focus on yourself and your capabilities. Wearing your pin could very well engender hostile feelings in your inteviewer about Greek Life, or bad memories of college or simply be distracting to the interviewer, her or she may very well not know what it is you are wearing. There are all sorts of possible scenarios.
Focus on you and the achievements you have on your resume. Save the pin for when you get the job.
violets

This reminds me of that commercial where the girl goes into the bathroom at someone else's house and opens the medicine cabinet.....pauses and then reaches for a tube. Of course the whole thing comes down and CRASH!!

Anyway, I would say no. Show your pride, but not on an interview. I think it would just be too distracting and I also agree with honeychile.

Good Luck!!

I've been wanting to share this. I was at a Panhellenic fundraiser, and saw an AEPhi who wore her pin in such a creative way, no one could tell at a glance that it was a sorority pin!

She had her pin properly placed, then every dangle she'd ever earned on a separate link of the chain to her guard, then the guard, with only a slight dip. It was stunning, to say the least!

Good luck, lionlove!
honeychile

girls can guys can't. Girls get away with it because women are expected to wear more jewelry.

It depends on what profession you are going into as well. For instance, if you are going into higher education or interviewing a charitable trust doundation/philanthropic organization it would PROBABLY (not always) go over well. But if you are in a more liberal, artistic field such as studio art or something, people may frown on the conformity aspect of a sorority.

Anyway, I don't wear my badge to interviews but I do bring up my sorority experience if I feel it is relevant to the conversation and would be well receieved (after a few minutes so I can get a feel for the interviewer). Once my interviewer was in another GLO, once she was in mine and once the girl got sad and told me she was cut by evey house in recruitment... Anyway, mentioning it has never hurt me in an interview.

I'd say no.It has nothing to do with the job that you are interviewing for. Also, since many people have negative feelings about greek life, they would be put off by you wearing your pin. Also, if your interviewer is from the Northeast, Midwest or the West, don't wear it either. They would think it was strange that you were wearing your pin to a professional event.
If your interviewing for a Greek Advisor position, with NPC, or your sorority's national org, then wear it.
-Michelle

This is how all girls on my campus wore their badges... what have you seen that is different from this?

I'm impressed! A lot of chapters don't wear a guard at all (which I find borderline tacky, but that's me). The ones that do just have the dangles put on the guard so they slip into each other. As an alumna, I've heard that I'm to take my guard off, but I'm thinking of having the dangles individually hung, like the one I saw.

Maybe it's a campus thing?

honeychile

Where would you put your alumna dangles if you took off your guard? :) I have an alumna association dangle and an advising dangle...so I need and love the guard!
:D
violets

My take: Wear it. You cannot lose. My philosophy on this:

If you wear it, and the person interviewing you is Greek, you have an instant bond.

If you wear it, and the person has no clue as to what it is, he or she may just think you're wearing a pretty pin. Maybe I'm prejudiced in this because I have a pin that's shaped like an object.

If you wear it, and your interviewer won't hire you just because he or she is anti-Greek, you never wanted to work for him/her anyway.

You know, this is fine if you're interviewing for your first job out of college and you really don't need the money anyway. But for those people with actual bills and actual dependants who are actually trying to get a lucrative career started, you don't want something trivial to sabotage your interview.

I've received probably 500 resumes in the 10 years or so that I've been working, and I've interviewed perhaps 50 people. Personally, I only expect to see Greek affiliation on a resume if the candidate is still an undergrad or is a recent graduate, and then only if it is mentioned in the context of leadership training or holding an elected position. I don't like to see people just list "member, XYZ sorority" because it looks like they're just taking a shot in the dark hoping someone in the company is a member. I'm Greek and I feel that way. Imagine how non-greeks feel. This is typically a pet peeve of theirs. If you've been out of school a few years, I recommend leaving affiliation off the resume, unless you've got something really special to attach to it like a national officer position or something. My thinking is, GLOs are a great place to gain experience that will be helpful in the real world, but by 3 years after graduation you darn well better have some ACTUAL real world experience to fill up your resume.

As far as badges go, "conventional" wisdom among professionals is to leave off the badge, and I tend to agree for the same reasons listed above. Like it or not, more people have a negative association with GLOs than a positive. If you can afford to be idealistic, by all means choose not to work for anti-Greeks. If you're a realist and/or you want a paycheck, be practical and maximize your chances of getting the job. That means, be conservative in all aspects of appearance. A small recognition pin or charm MAYBE. But certainly not a big shiny jewelled hunk of gold with skulls on it and stuff dangling off of it.

This applies mainly to "corporate/professional" environments. That's where my experience is. The more "artsy" professions might have a different take.

Hope that's helpful.


wptw

Another idea is to have you pin mounted on a ring or a necklace. Lots of Greek Jewelery companies sell the backings, and it looks incredible. I know in my Fraternity, only an alumna may wear her pin as a ring or necklace. Its a discrete and classy way of showing your greek pride!

For professional attire, Sigma Nu makes alumni pendants. They kind of look like this but are MUCH smaller and are basically just the outline of the badge which is colored white. Sometimes a number appears in the middle like 10 for 10 years of service or whatever..

http://www.mastersofdesign.com/image...t/img1-742.jpg

I've never worn my pin to an interview. You never know if your interviewer is anti-greek, or if s/he rushed and fell in love with your GLO only to be cut leaving him/her bitter, or if s/he has an ex who is in your GLO, etc... I'm not saying these are good reasons to not offer a job to a particular candidate, but I'm sure it does happen.

I don't list AEPhi on my resume, either, even though I held an exec position. I've been out of school for five years already - I'd rather have my resume focus on my work experience, certifications, and recent community involvement.

The "trouble", if you will, with AEPhi's badge is that it is so obviously a GLO badge - unlike a key, arrow, etc. We also are not allowed to turn it into any other form of jewelry (otherwise I would have turned my new member pin into a pendant long ago). So, when I go to an interview, my badge stays home.

A lot of SAI women do something similar to this, especially "older" members. Instead of dangles, they get guards (one for their college chapter, one for the Sword of Honor award, one for their exec. office, etc..) and attach all of THOSE to the badge! IMHO, too many guards distract from the badge. I've seen as many as ten on one badge!

Here's a related question, though: Most of these women then buy little "badge buddies" - pieces of decorative fabric upon which the badge and all guards are pinned. The badge buddy has a pin on the back, which the wearer then attaches to her clothing. I guess it saves the time and frustration of putting all those pins onto an article of clothing, not to mention wear and tear on the clothes. Do other GLOs do this?

After over 6 years as a member of my GLO, I'm embarassed to ask this, but...

what the heck is a "guard"?

Ginger,

A guard is the chapter letters, attached on a chain to the main badge. People then attach their dangles that they get for various offices to the chain.

oh and honeychile, WORD on not being able to imagine a badge without a chapter guard. It amazes me how many people don't have them. :eek:

these are guards:

http://www.sai-national.org/resource/badge4.jpg

Hmm... I didn't know there was such a thing as an officer guard.

When I first got my badge, I didn't get a chapter guard because we hadn't been installed as a chapter yet. (The original founders were initiated in keeping with the 6-8 week new member program, even though we weren't large enough to be chartered - so we just got plain badges.) I bought a guard later on. I needed something to hang my dangles on :) Our guards are actually really nice - the chapter letters are pearl set to coordinate with the badge - the disadvantage is we have to get them from nationals.

RedRoseSAI, wouldn't a "badge buddy" defeat one of the purposes of a guard - which is to make sure your badge doesn't get lost if the clasp pops open because it's still attached to your shirt by the guard?

aephi alum, I had the same thought. People tend to call them "dangles" nowadays instead of "guards", but they originally started appearing as separate stickpins in the late 1800s because locking clasps were not yet widely available. Clasps in the 1800s were just a little C-shaped loop of gold, and if you've ever seen one, the need for a separate guard is obvious.

wptw

A dangle is not the same as a guard. The dangles hang on the chain that attaches the guard to the badge.

Yes, it would, which is another reason why I don't quite "get" badge buddies. Then again, maybe people who wear them stick one of the guards through the badge buddy and attach it onto their clothing...I really don't know.

Semantics. Most people use the terms interchangeably. You're right, though.

wptw

Wow...imagine away! We don't have anything like that... the rule is that absolutely NOTHING is to be attached to our badge - all of our recognition pins, etc. are individual pins that do not attach and are to be worn below and to the left of our badge.

That's so wierd...I guess I always assumed that every other group had a rule of not attaching anything to their pins...something about the sanctity of the badge.

re; badge buddies

I've never seen them, but I know in the DAR & similar organizations, you put the pins on a ribbon, and attach the ribbon to your clothing. And yes, it has everything to do with saving wear & tear on your clothing.

I've never seen the officer guards, either!

Like Ginger said, imagine away. Maybe someday I'll get a guard, but I don't have one right now. They cost money.

Besides, I like my Key without a guard. It's subtle.

Our Grand Council President's badge has our New Member Pin as a guard. I think that's really cool. But I don't think that lack of a guard is bad.

AOII, as an organization, does not allow anything to be attached to their badges at all.

"AOIIs do not wear any symbols of office or anything else (i.e., fraternity pins) attached to the badge."
http://www.alphaomicronpi.org/conten...s/jewelry.html

For the record, I have nothing attached to my anchor badge.

One great thing about Chapter Letter Guards, they're actually wonderfully useful at an all-Sorority event such as a formal Alumnae Association tea or banquet or even convention; at a glance you can see all the different chapters your sisters are representing.

But getting back to the original topic; I wonder how the interview went? Any news?
violets

Hello again, I ended up not wearing the pin. I had to wear a pretty large name tag anyways so I couldn't wear a pin because it would be covered by the nametag. I probably wouldn't have worn it anyways. I don't know what my interviewer thinks about Phi Mu and it's just better to be cautious.

Thanks for all the best wishes. It wasn't a job interview exactly. It was just a lunch with a woman with a very high up job in my field and she was visiting campus and agreed to have lunch with me to discuss different job oppourtunities in my field. It was more of a networking interview than a "hire me" interview if that makes any sense. Even though she wasn't meeting with me as a job applicant, I still wanted to make a good impression because I want her to talk about me to all the right people.

Thanks for all the responses, it's something to think about when I graduate and go out to the real world.

Nametags on the right, pins on the left!

I know people tend to put tags on the left (probably because they're right handed), but it's actually more correct on the right - in part because when you shake hands, it's easy to sneak a peak at the nametag if it's on that side.

But I'm glad it went well!

Chapter Designations or Guards, are used to denote you Chapter, and to keep from losing your Badge!

I am glad you did not wear your Badge to the interview!

Why, you may ask?

Your accomplishments will be on your resume. I always put my Org. on the top and what I did with them.

Most are not interested in what Org. you belonged to by your Badge, but what you did while you were there.

Many of the Top people in the World after College may have been in a Greek Org. so have a feeling unless you were mortal enemies! Then OOPS!:D

I looove the Kappa new member pin! It's so beautiful (in my opinion). I wish I could keep it after initiation. Maybe I'll just have to become Grand Council President so that I can! :D

Thanks for posting this, CutiePie2000. It's correct information, we are not allowed to attach anything to our badge. We can mount it on a charm to wear as a necklace or on a badge ring, but only as alumnae. I'm biased, of course, but I think that it's stunning to see everyone's badges without all the 'extras' attached!

I'm wondering though, what do you do with the guards and dangles once you graduate? I heard back in college that Chi Omega's weren't allowed to wear their guards once they graduated, is that true?

Lionlove, it sounds like your lunch went well, good for you! Hope you got a lot of good information.

Christin

This seems a little strange... I'm wondering what the justification is for that rule? Are you no longer considered a member of your chapter, just of the sorority as a whole? :confused:

For the AOIIs, are officers recognized in any particular way? No guard = nowhere to put a dangle, so do you have recognition pins or something?

AFAIK, AEPhi has no rule about removing the guard once you've graduated. My guard is still attached, and I've met several alums (including national officers) who still wear their guards. I think my badge looks prettier with the guard.

I'm wondering, though... If you are allowed to keep your chapter guard, and you pin, say, your daughter with your badge, and she's in a different chapter - does she have to remove the guard or get a new one with her chapter letters?

lionlove, glad the lunch went well. :)

I wear my pin the exact same way I wore it when I was in school, with chapter guards and dangles attached. I've earned far more dangles as an alumna than as a collegian though, so I couldn't imagine not being able to wear them. Then what would be the point of earning them?

Lindsay :)

This topic tangent is so interesting! I'm enjoying learning more about everyone's badges and traditions.

We just wear our badge, which is just how our Founders wanted it to be. I guess since dangles weren't allowed on our badge, it never really occurred to any of us to purchase them (this is almost 20 years ago!) I was awarded a dangle from our college Panhellenic one year and I just kept it in my pin box, it's around here somewhere. We do have a President's Ring and Ruby A badge as award/recognition jewelry for collegians. I believe we also have a Circle Award pin awarded to New Members, but don't know much about it.

Both the President's Ring and the Ruby A badge are owned by each collegiate chapter and are passed down each year/term. The President's ring is self-explanatory I'm sure :) The Ruby A is used as an award badge, and there are rubies set into the 'A' on the badge. Look at this badge and imagine rubies where the pearls are set on the 'A' and you get an idea of what it can look like (it can also be unjeweled on the O and II, and probably often is.) http://www.aoiiemporium.com/store/co...?idproduct=380 It is traditionally awarded to the new member with the Highest GPA upon intiation. Former Chapter Presidents and Ruby A awardees can purchase their own ring or Ruby A badge after they pass it down.

The AOII Emporium does carry leadership charms (dangles) and a few charm-style bracelets. So, I guess it's okay to have them, but not attach them (or anything else) to our badge.

I'm kind of glad we don't use them, because I'd be broke from having so many of them :D


Christin
(none of this is Official Information, just my personal knowledge as correct and completely written as I can remember!)