Like tattoos? think again, if you want a job!

Monster2

Monster2

New member
Ladies and Gentlemen, Here is a public service announcement for you guys.
Jobs are harder to land these days, so if you do decide to get some ink, I urge you to consider putting in it place that can be easily covered by clothing.
Visible Tattoos Make People Unemployable
Over the past two months, Russell Parrish has applied for more than 100 jobs. He didn't get any of them. In fact he was automatically rejected prior to the interview stage by more than half of the employers that he approached. He claims that his inability to gain employment is down to his choice of body art.

Parrish, 29, who lives in Lake Wales with his wife Victoria, has spent the last fifteen years covering his body with a network of colorful tattoos. The designs, which tell the story of his life, cover his torso, neck, hands and arms.

His collection of body art includes a spider in a web crawling up his neck. "It goes back to Sir Walter Scott, 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.'" he explains "It reminds me not to lie".

When he interlocks the fingers of his left and right hands, it spells out his nickname "Hound Dawg". His left arm is adorned by characters from his father's favorite horror movies, including Boris Karloff, Bela Legosi and Lon Cheny.

And on the inside of his elbow, the words "If thine eye offends thee, pluck it out" send a message to anyone who doesn't like his choice of body decoration. "It means if you can't stand to look at me, don't," explains Parrish.

At present Parrish works in his father-in-law's restaurant, but he wants a career with better job prospects so that he can support his wife and start a family. But despite his efforts, prospective employers won't even consider him. "You go for jobs and most times they won't give you an application. They tell you don't even bother, you have too many tattoos," he explains.
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What a bunch of bollocks.

I am sorry, but I have never encountered any problems getting a job because I had tattoos. I have worked in customer services, in hospitals, in restaurants, in retail, in offices and in geriatric care homes, and my tattoos were NEVER a problem. And yes, my tattoos are plainly visible, on my lower arm, wrists, and I even have one on my hand. Hell, I worked in a funeral care home for two years, and I wore short sleeved blouses to work - I never ONCE had any remarks about it.

Of course that was in Germany...I guess people there are simply less tight-arsed. *shrug*

Since I came to the UK, all I noticed is that people are in general very curious and complete strangers will start a conversation about my tattoos. I have encountered people with large, plain visible tattoos in virtually every job I can think of. In all actual fact, I talked to the manager of my bank this morning. He has a large tattoo reaching from the back of his hand (plainly visible) up his arm and his neck (also plainly visible under the shirt). The girl that served me in the pharmacy had a tattoo on her wrist, and the guy that came to replace my boiler had tattoos all over his neck and one of these huge earring things.

So, no clue what rock that guy lives under, but I'll call bullshit on that one. Sounds like an excuse.
 
San, it is true that many employers have rules and hiring policies about employees and tattoos. There's really no point in arguing this, because the information is out there.
However, I do agree with you that this guy could probably have found work by now, with or without tattoos.
Also in the article, is that the exact tattoo that you have might make a difference also. If you have flowers or other stuff as opposed to skulls or anything else that might be considered offensive, bothersome, or just annoying.
 
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In a tough job market, should my competition choose to get himself/herself a tattoo before an interview, then great. Every little helps.
 
My job, though, they don't care. The man that hired me had a tattoo on his neck, and he was wearing a suit and tie. It just depends on the area. Honestly, I wouldn't want to work somewhere that they would judge that sort of thing. If they aren't tasteful, though, I can understand.
 
Monster said:
San, it is true that many employers have rules and hiring policies about employees and tattoos. There's really no point in arguing this, because the information is out there.
However, I do agree with you that this guy could probably have found work by now, with or without tattoos.
Also in the article, is that the exact tattoo that you have might make a difference also. If you have flowers or other stuff as opposed to skulls or anything else that might be considered offensive, bothersome, or just annoying.
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Yup. Disney doesn't allow its employees to have visible tattoos. Now, keep in mind that Disney owns a huge share of restaurants in the United States. That's a lot of jobs that tattooed people are unable to get because of their ink.
 
I definitely think it's a cultural thing. My impression is that in Australia (where I'm from) for the kind of work I'd want to do, visible or even possibly visible tattoos would make work much harder to find/ keep. I toyed with the idea of a tattoo for awhile (but I'm not sure I could commit to anything now that I still want on my body when I'm 80), and decided that if I got one, it'd be somewhere that only a doctor or partner would be able to see on me, to minimise people judging me for that kind of lifestyle choice.
 
Of course it'd depend on the job. In my job, oilfield, it'd be fair to say that tat's are not a big issue(nor criminal records). If working in education/retail/customer service it would likely be different.
 
My best friend's boyfriend works at Disneyland. He's got a full sleeve on one arm, and it's visible most of the time.

Also, it's in contracts that they can't have tattoos? Can they also put into the contract what hair colour their employes are allowed to have, what makeup they have to wear and how they have to wear their hair?

Where I come from, that'd be enough for a lawsuit.

Fortunately I seem to have worked with employers who seem to be interested in skill rather than looks so far. Any employer who told me he wouldn't take me because of my tattoos could seriously kiss my backside. Their loss, not mine. Plenty of jobs out there.
 
Iain1974 said:
In a tough job market, should my competition choose to get himself/herself a tattoo before an interview, then great. Every little helps.
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Hmmm...I'm sure it's a great feeling to know that you weren't chosen because of your skills, but simply because the person who was better than you happened to have a tattoo. Good to know where some employers priorities are.

Still chuckling here.
 
San said:
what hair colour their employes are allowed to have, what makeup they have to wear and how they have to wear their hair?
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Yes, Yes, and Yes. Actually.. it's more of matter of how they can't dye their hair (blue, pink or green, orange) seems reasonable to me.
Make up??? Don't know.... but most banks probably wouldn't want you wearing "goth" make up.
How to wear your hair? I don't think most employers would want to see their customer service people wear a mohawk.
Is there anything wrong with people that wear a green mohawk and goth make up? ... um... maybe? but aside from that, you have to remember that institutions have customers that come from all walks of life, and being waited on by such people would make a lot of people's grandmothers turn away.
Personally, I'm more old school on the subject than you guys are, but I do keep an open mind. Just try to see both ways, and make your decisions.
If you gotta have your ink, you gotta have your ink.
But be aware, it COULD hurt your chances.
 
San said:
Hmmm...I'm sure it's a great feeling to know that you weren't chosen because of your skills, but simply because the person who was better than you happened to have a tattoo. Good to know where some employers priorities are.

Still chuckling here.
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Tattoo's create an impression whether their owners like it or not.

An employer could well look unfavourably on someone with a tattoo and if I personally could benefit from such an opinion then I'm a happy camper.

I recently met a chap who had been in his job since 2009 and he told a story of a person showing up to the interview (one of the group affairs) 15 minutes late. As it hapenned the others were still milling around waiting to go in the room. The person who showed up late was told to go home. It doesn't take much to upset an potential employer.
 
Yupp, I gotta have my ink. And I had my chances, and took them. Guess I'm lucky.

I'll keep it in mind though...next time anybody pees me off when I go shopping, and they have a tattoo (or a hairstyle) that I don't like, I'll go and complain to customer services about them. Can't have those little tattoed rebels working at the checkout in the supermarket now, can we??
 
San said:
Can't have those little tattoed rebels working at the checkout in the supermarket now, can we??
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There. that's it.. that's what it comes down to. It's not how they act or how they're going to act, it's how it's perceived.
You yourself called them rebels... although you did it sarcastically, but that's just how it is perceived. If you're going to rebel against society, what's going to stop you from rebelling against your bosses? If you have to do a lot of hiring, first impressions are 80% of the hiring process.
What you also have to consider is (and this sucks) that human resource people hire people by numbers. They are told to hire inside company policy, and they don't make exceptions. It's a shame that human resource people are involved in hiring at all, in my opinion. I think that managers have a much better idea of what to look for, and when to make exceptions.
 
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Monster said:
If you have to do a lot of hiring, first impressions are 80% of the hiring process.
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Once you get to an interview, the prospective employer has already decided that you're qualified. The interview is a 20 minute chat to see if they can work with you and size you up. A visible tattoo WILL be noticed.

I had an interview 2 weeks ago. It's a long process with;

1) Application form+resume
2) Call from HR
3) Phone interview from HR (different person)
4) Proper interview (3 seperate people, 20 mins each)
5) 45 minute presentation to group
6) Further email contact with HR (another different person)

Would I get that far with a visible tat? Maybe or maybe not. I don't know. What I do know is I can be 100% cetain I want to be judged on my talent and not on a 15 year old tattoo.
There were 3 others applying for the job and I would be DELIGHTED to know that one of them had a visible tattoo.
 
San said:
My best friend's boyfriend works at Disneyland. He's got a full sleeve on one arm, and it's visible most of the time.

Also, it's in contracts that they can't have tattoos? Can they also put into the contract what hair colour their employes are allowed to have, what makeup they have to wear and how they have to wear their hair?

Where I come from, that'd be enough for a lawsuit.
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It's in Disney employee's contracts that they are not allowed to show visible tattoos. Once they sign that contract, they have to abide by the rules. I have a hard time believing this friend of yours walks around Disneyland with his sleeve being fully visible. I know many people who are employed with Disney, many of which have tattoos. Each and every one of them is required to cover their tattoos with clothing before appearing at work. Otherwise, they would be immediately fired, as they would be breaching their contract.

I just have a hard time believing that this friends of yours walks around showing his sleeve tattoo at Disneyland. If he does and if he gets away with it, he's very lucky and just hasn't been caught yet.

Disney is one of the most strict companies on the planet when it comes to appearance of their employees. They honestly don't f*ck around. They even have a policy that, if an employee who works for Disney or any of its sister companies or subsidiaries gets fired, they will not be hired at any other Disney location around the world. They're strict. Like, jerk off alcoholic stepfather strict.
 
ChefChiTown said:
It's in Disney employee's contracts that they are not allowed to show visible tattoos. Once they sign that contract, they have to abide by the rules. I have a hard time believing this friend of yours walks around Disneyland with his sleeve being fully visible. I know many people who are employed with Disney, many of which have tattoos. Each and every one of them is required to cover their tattoos with clothing before appearing at work. Otherwise, they would be immediately fired, as they would be breaching their contract.

I just have a hard time believing that this friends of yours walks around showing his sleeve tattoo at Disneyland. If he does and if he gets away with it, he's very lucky and just hasn't been caught yet.

Disney is one of the most strict companies on the planet when it comes to appearance of their employees. They honestly don't f*ck around. They even have a policy that, if an employee who works for Disney or any of its sister companies or subsidiaries gets fired, they will not be hired at any other Disney location around the world. They're strict. Like, jerk off alcoholic stepfather strict.
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I know Disney's strict, and they are arseholes.

That said, he works in maintenance, and while he usually works a little bit away from the crowds, he frequently has to fix stuff in plain view of people. If it's hot, he wears a t-shirt, which leaves about 1/2 of his sleeve visible.
I must admit that I have actually mentioned it myself (knowing a little about Disney's many rather 'strict' policies), and he shrugged and said that nobody ever told him to cover it up.

As for the rest....a person with a tattoo being considered a rebel?

Come on, that worked 1965. In 2011, to me a tattoo is no more than a pierced ear or a hair style. If you want to rebel, you have to go a lot further than that.

At least, and I repeat, over here. I don't know about the States, or other places. Actually....friend of mine is a teacher in Australia. Has tattoo, has it visible. No problems. It might be a bit of a regional thing.
 
I've never had a problem with having visible tattoos in the work place or getting a job. The only one I have visible (unless I'm wearing shorts) is a hand holding a peace sign on my forearm but it is very visible as I always wear short sleeved tee-shirts.

I've worked for my the school district here in IT and City Government as IT in which I was occasionally in City Hall and with the Mayor and it has never been an issue. Again this may be a regional / local thing.
 
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