<p>just wondering. has it gotten in the way of getting a job/internship?</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>if you’re an employer, is this an automatic disqualifier?</p>
<p>I would highly discourage a tattoo for a young person. Piercings can get removed at a later date. There may be a slight scar where they were, however if the rings are removed it’s so slight that it shouldn’t be an issue. Tattoos on the other hand can’t be removed for work…covered depending on where they are, but they are there.</p>
<p>What is acceptable in the workplace can vary widely by profession and region. A graphic artist on the west coast may have little restrictions whereas an investment banker on the east coast may find a far more conservative environment.</p>
<p>No. 2 tattoos. Corporate executive. Conservative but casual industries. No problem.</p>
<p>For our hiring (retail store) facial piercings other than traditional ear, are out of the question. We don’t want to have to look at them, and wouldn’t inflict them on our customers, either. Tattoos–depends on the location, extensiveness, and subject. Bottom line, we want our customers to be looking at our merchandise, not agog at our help (for the same reason, we don’t allow serious cleavage, visible underwear, etc.) To answer your first question, you wouldn’t necessarily even know if a tat or piercing has gotten in the way of a job or internship because you usually never find out why you don’t get a particularly position. In our case, we just pitch the application if personal appearance is an obstacle. We don’t really have time to offer job search counseling and certainly don’t want to get into a debate over the acceptability of piercings and tattoos.</p>
<p>My friend’s son got his arm majorly tatooed in college. He now wants to join officers training school in the Marines. He is now going through tatoo removal because the Marines will NOT take you with a tatoo!</p>
<p>Most people with tattoos will tell you it has never worked against them. But the question is how would they know? You only know about the jobs, promotions, dates, etc. you did get and not the ones you didn’t. No one is going tell you that you weren’t hired or promoted because of your tats, even if that is the real reason.</p>
<p>To the best of my knowledge the company I work for does not have a formal, written policy against tattoos and piercings. But the only people I’ve ever seen get hired with a visible tattoo are blue-collar folks working on the manufacturing lines or loading docks. There are exactly zero people, male or female, working in white collar jobs with visible tattoos.</p>
<p>“To answer your first question, you wouldn’t necessarily even know if a tat or piercing has gotten in the way of a job or internship because you usually never find out why you don’t get a particularly position. In our case, we just pitch the application if personal appearance is an obstacle.”</p>
<p>Exactly. You won’t know.</p>
<p>Speaking as someone who has hired a number of people, I would consider visible tattoos a strong negative for a professional position. Visible piercings anywhere other than the ear even worse. (You wanted to make a strong impression with your tongue piercing, get in people’s faces? You did. Goodbye. 
) Frankly, I have a problem with more than one piercing per ear, too. It just looks tacky to me. </p>
<p>I guess I’m no fun. :)</p>
<p>Um, believe me, MomofWildChild is quite successful. If she says tattoos haven’t hurt her career, she knows what she’s talking about! My previous boss, a structural engineer, had a bunch of tattoos and did very well.</p>
<p>I find this post interesting.
Tattoos are becoming so prevalent especially with the young.
A young woman in the hospital laboratory where I work has several small, tasteful (to me) tattoos on her arm/wrist.</p>
<p>She is extremely bright, articulate and a great addition to our group.
I’m glad that her tattoos did not keep her from being hired.</p>
<p>That said, I would think that large tattoos, especially with text, would be distracting and viewed as unprofessional in some settings, including the one I work in. I am not involved in hiring though.</p>
<p>My new hires have to be in front of clients and need to project a certain presence, and visible tattoos are not consistent with it. They are a class marker / signifiers, just like a mullet.</p>
<p>What’s the upside? A bunch of people think it looks trashy – there is no upside, only downside, and it’s permanent (unlike a haircut or makeup or a clothing style).</p>
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<p>LOL…me, too. I don’t know why this bothers me but it does.</p>
<p>My rule of thumb on tattoos (I don’t have any but if I were to get one) is it needs to be in a place that is not visible when you are wearing appropriate work attire. I’m talking white collar business-type jobs here. I think it really depends on your career field. We have told son he will not be getting a tattoo while we are supporting him. What he does after he is off our payroll is up to him. Young people need to think long and hard before getting inked - what feels appropriate when you’re twenty is way different than forty.</p>
<p>There must be a market for tattoo removal (and money in it) because I noticed yesterday that my family practice physicians were advertising that they now remove them.</p>
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<p>Really? Do you mean to say that everyone with a tattoo is the same to you as a mullet-wearing, blue-collar, country music fan?</p>
<p>No. However, I think what you wear and how you present yourself says a lot about how you want to be perceived – whether it’s sweater-sets-and-pearls, spiked hair, a bohemian look, a mullet, whatever – and I don’t see why tattoos are any different in that regard. If anything, it’s even more of a statement that you’re trying to make about yourself – insofar as you can swap out the sweater-sets-and-pearls for a leather jacket, or wear your hair a different way – but a tattoo is a pretty permanent fashion statement.</p>
<p>This has nothing to do with what the person IS as a person, of course.</p>
<p>I surprised myself by NOT being turned off during my first meeting with a 20-something (30-something?) woman hired by our firm as social media consultant/website developer.</p>
<p>I don’t know quite how extensive her tatoos were, but I could see the top 2-3 inches, above her camisole, of what was obviously a good sized tatoo, as well as some on the arm below her short sleeves.</p>
<p>I tried to figure out why I was <em>not</em> turned off. I think it was similar to what musicmom is saying in post #10. This woman, as well, was extremely competent, personable, professional and my respect for her was immediate. </p>
<p>BTW, if there is such an apparel genre as “corporate Goth”, that’s about what she was wearing, lol. Lot’s of black, some leather… but toned down.</p>
<p>This was a learning experience for me. However, I still cringe internally at multiple visible piercings and am turned off most of the time by extensive tatoos even in entertainers, fashion designers, chefs etc. that I see regularly on the reality competition shows.</p>
<p>What about dread locks? Are they perceived similarly to tattoos?</p>
<p>Visible tattoos are a problem.</p>
<p>Another issue are those odd ear things that make huge holes in the ear lobes (I totally think those are odd.) </p>
<p>I recently saw a cashier who had these huge silver rings in his ears. I thought they were standard hoops until I saw that his lobes went all the way around these huge hoops. I literally got nauseous. I had to get in another line!</p>
<p>I think a lot of people are going to regret what they’ve done to themselves in a few years.</p>
<p>I’m with the crew that does not appreciate ear lobe gauging or tattoos or even multiple ear piercings. I have to say, though, that if the 2Kids_ want to rebel, I hope they choose odd piercings rather than big tattoos. So much easier to change your mind after piercings. </p>
<p>There are strong correlations between socioeconomic status and 1) cigarette smoking, 2) obesity, and 3) tattoos. OK, I know there are heavy, tattooed, smoking neurosurgeons, etc., but on the average, the better a job someone has, the more well-educated someone is, the less likely he or she is to smoke, to be obese, or to have tattoos.</p>
<p>I have a tattoo-covered, lobe-gauged relative who I am quite fond of. Thus far, his positions have been creative/funky/artsy and his unusual appearance hasn’t hurt him a bit. I think that unfortunately, his unusual appearance will hurt him in the future when he is looking for a new job or he is hoping for a promotion. :(</p>
<p>i see. thanks for everyone’s response!</p>
<p>I feel that, to many people, body modification makes the statement, “I am not concerned about whether I offend other people’s sensibilities.”</p>
<p>There are many lines of work in which that statement isn’t aligned with the type of attitude that employers or clients would be looking for. There are some lines of work where that wouldn’t be a problem, or might even be a desirable attitude.</p>
<p>One can make those statements with hairstyle and dress as well, but those are much more amenable to change to suit the situation.</p>