Job Search / Tattoos And Piercings

At a recent job fair, a woman approached my booth and asked me a question about hiring discrimination. She was a hiring manager from another company also exhibiting at the job fair, but she wanted to know about her son’s prospects for getting a job.

I talked to her about the type of work her son is interested in and asked some other questions. After chatting for a while, she told me that she knows her son has good qualifications, but he keeps getting turned down after the interviews. She then shared that her son has a large tattoo on his face. She asked me if I thought his tattoo might be hurting his chances of employment. I was honest with her and told her yes.

The reality is that hiring managers discriminate and they are totally within their rights to not hire someone with a facial tattoo (or piercing) that they believe would be offensive or inappropriate in their workplace or with their customers.

A lot of jobs require employees to be customer-facing and on client sites. Although tattoos and body piercings are becoming more mainstream, there are still many traditional workplaces that favor a more conservative look.

In fact, it’s very common for employers to have a dress code policy that may ban visible tattoos and piercings. Many employers also have policies that require employees to totally remove body piercings while in the office or cover tattoos with clothing and/or makeup.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor from

via Hiring Discrimination Against Tattoos And Piercings | CAREEREALISM.

Related Post

Dressing for Success at Work

Whether you’re looking for work or are seeking a promotion at your current job, dressing the part can make all the difference. Though it’s easy to say that appearances shouldn’t matter and that a candidate should be judged on their merit and accomplishments rather than their chosen style of dress, the truth is that your … Continue reading »