Do tattoos really make employment difficult?

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do tattoos really make employment difficult? (Page 1 of 7)

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:10:59 PM EDT

I'm wondering if having a sleeve makes employment any more difficult these days. Any particular field?
I want to know before I get the first piece done-thanks!

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:12:42 PM EDT

[#1]

Depends on the occupation.

Generally white collar is a no go... blue collar, it varies.

IBT Inky Haters / Pure skins.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:13:06 PM EDT

[#2]

Ask yourself this: You're the hiring guy. Two applicants come in, both equally qualified. One has idiotic cartoons scrawled all up & down his arms, reflecting poor life choices. Which one do you hire?

Act accordingly.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:13:28 PM EDT

[#3]

My boss doesn't care so long as we work hard and do things to the best of our skills and abilities.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:13:30 PM EDT

[#4]

Depends on profession. Expect to wear long sleeve dress shirts in the high end corporate world.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:13:49 PM EDT

[#5]

Certainly not! There is a great demand for ditch diggers in the world today!

C'mon, you can troll better than that. It's like you're not even trying, just phoning it in.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:13:55 PM EDT

[#6]

I can't speak for others but in our business it would matter.

Appearances are everything when you are dealing with a certain

segment of society .

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:03 PM EDT

[#7]

It sure does. But trying to convince the ones with full sleeves is another story.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:06 PM EDT

[#8]

Quote History

Quoted:
Ask yourself this: You're the hiring guy. Two applicants come in, both equally qualified. One has idiotic cartoons scrawled all up & down his arms face, hands and neck, reflecting poor life choices. Which one do you hire?

Act accordingly.

View Quote

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:35 PM EDT

[#9]

Don't let the fry oil mess up your ink, bro.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:44 PM EDT

[#10]

unless you are going to be a tattoo artist, get ink done only where you can hide it in your professions work attire. I'd personally pass over someone visibly inked because it fails at projecting a professional image.

I have no problem with ink work but keep it where you can hide it. You never know when you may want a professional job and it would reflect poorly on you. case in point:

the town i'm from had a cop who was wild in his younger days. he had a black widow tattoo on his hand and it was always visible when he dealt with the public. He was a good enough cop but never earned the respect of the town and eventually quit

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:47 PM EDT

[#11]

I've heard stories of it affecting. I've never actually seen a case where a person was turned away from a job though. If a person is not smart enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and look presentable during an interview then they deserve to not get hired. We have plenty of tattooed people in my professional workplace environment. Never seemed to be an issue.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:14:55 PM EDT

[#12]

Quote History

Quoted:
I can't speak for others but in our business it would matter.Appearances are everything when you are dealing with a certain
segment of society .

View Quote

That's not fair mr fairplay

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:15:06 PM EDT

[#13]

I work in a steel mill, yes the wrong one and in the wrong places can draw attention (face) but stuff on your arm? nobody cares unless it's something racist, nazi stuff etc

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:15:06 PM EDT

[#14]

No idea about full sleeves but all mine are 1 inch above the elbow so I can wear short sleeve shirts and still keep them hid.
When I first decided to get tattoos I decided right off the bat not to get any that I couldn't easily cover up in the future if the need arose.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:15:07 PM EDT

[#15]

Tattoos got me fired from a welding job once, but have never impacted my IT career.

I get the evil eye during PT sometimes

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:15:07 PM EDT

[#16]

Quote History

Quoted:
I can't speak for others but in our business it would matter.Appearances are everything when you are dealing with a certain
segment of society .

View Quote

Which segment is that?

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:16:06 PM EDT

[#17]

What field are you in?

Might have to get use to wearing long sleeve shirts on a daily basis if there is policy on it. I've always worn a suit and tie to interviews so it's never come up in that portion of the hiring process.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:16:53 PM EDT

[#18]

Tell the truth.

Would you be a patient if this guy was your doctor?

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:17:10 PM EDT

[#19]

Quote History

Quoted:
Depends on profession. Expect to wear long sleeve dress shirts in the high end corporate world.

View Quote

Pretty much this

All my work can be mostly covered up by a t-shirt.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:18:09 PM EDT

[#20]

I work in a major telecom corp environment. One of our senior investigators has full sleeves, & several of us have tattoos.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:18:25 PM EDT

[#21]

I work in a hospital, no visible tattoos allowed. As long as you can cover them up you can work here.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:18:59 PM EDT

[#22]

Quote History

Quoted:
Tell the truth.
Would you be a patient if this guy was your doctor?
http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/images/tattoo-gallery/full-face-tattoo.jpg

View Quote

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:19:34 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
I'm wondering if having a sleeve makes employment any more difficult these days. Any particular field?
I want to know before I get the first piece done-thanks!

View Quote

only if you want a real job for the rest of your life.sleeves of tattoos brand you despite what people say to your face...

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:20:30 PM EDT

[#24]

Some white collared professions are very tat friendly. Anything you might envision a "hipster" doing. First thing that pops into my mind is IT. Maybe that's just my own misconception though.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:21:17 PM EDT

[#25]

It is is exposed when wearing a short sleeve shirt I would probably NOT hire you.

Many clients look as then as poor life decisions

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:21:24 PM EDT

[#26]

Quote History

Quoted:
Tell the truth.
Would you be a patient if this guy was your doctor?
http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/images/tattoo-gallery/full-face-tattoo.jpg

View Quote

Sure, we could chat about the Blanks 77 tour in '97. Holy shit, that was fun.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:21:36 PM EDT

[#27]

If you're cool with covering them I'd say go for it. I work for a large architecture firm and several people here have visible tattoos, but they wear long sleeve shirts.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:21:54 PM EDT

[#28]

Got a guy tattoo'ed up to the ears in the video game studio where I work...

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:22:33 PM EDT

[#29]

Quote History

Quoted:

Tell the truth.

Would you be a patient if this guy was your doctor?

http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/images/tattoo-gallery/full-face-tattoo.jpg

View Quote

No, but at least he likes Blanks 77.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:22:38 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
No idea about full sleeves but all mine are 1 inch above the elbow so I can wear short sleeve shirts and still keep them hid.
When I first decided to get tattoos I decided right off the bat not to get any that I couldn't easily cover up in the future if the need arose.

View Quote

Same here.
My upper left arm is solid tattoos. But, not many people know it. Even a short sleeve shirt covers them unless I put my arms above my head or something.
In the profession I worked in, it didn't make any difference. Almost everybody had lots of tattoos. (Firefighter/Paramedic).

If you have any visible tattoos, I would think carefully about what they are. I worked with a guy that had a tattoo of the grim reaper on his forearm that he had gotten 30 years earlier (a guess) when he was a young man. I never thought anything about it until I looked over at him starting an IV on someone and I thought it kinda reflected badly on the department.

I know the police department in the city I worked in were required to cover their tattoos with long sleeved shirts. Many of our guys did the same thing on their own.

Of course every job interview I ever went to, I was wearing a coat and tie: they would have never known if I had tats anyway.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:25:29 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:
Some white collared professions are very tat friendly. Anything you might envision a "hipster" doing.

View Quote

V-neck =/= White-collar

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:26:40 PM EDT

[#32]

If I hire you to represent the company at events, you'd best have no visible ink.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:27:02 PM EDT

[#33]

I made it in before the one trick pony!

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:27:06 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:

I'm wondering if having a sleeve makes employment any more difficult these days. Any particular field?

I want to know before I get the first piece done-thanks!

View Quote

It can be helpful in some fields. Low-end prostitution, syphilis experimental subjects, real estate.

Any occupation that you wouldn't be embarrassed to mention to your parents? Not so much.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:28:59 PM EDT

[#35]

I'd be more concerned over how well they could perform the job, far above what tattoos they have. I have a few tattoos, and it never stopped me from 1: getting a job, or 2: performing that job to expectations. I was a "pureskin" for 32 years. The way I see it, if someone wants to turn me down for a job because of a few tattoos, that's their loss.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:29:14 PM EDT

[#36]

Tattoos make it hard to get elected president.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:30:11 PM EDT

[#37]

Quoted:
I'm wondering if having a sleeve makes employment any more difficult these days. Any particular field?
I want to know before I get the first piece done-thanks!

View Quote

Yes.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:30:53 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
I'm wondering if having a sleeve makes employment any more difficult these days. Any particular field?
I want to know before I get the first piece done-thanks!

View Quote

Yes. In most white collar and many blue collar jobs.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:31:16 PM EDT

[#39]

Quote History

Quoted:

No, but at least he likes Blanks 77.

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:

Tell the truth.

Would you be a patient if this guy was your doctor?

http://www.freetattoodesigns.org/images/tattoo-gallery/full-face-tattoo.jpg

No, but at least he likes Blanks 77.

Actually, I wouldn't care, so long as he knew his stuff.

Trouble is, I am not sure I would let him prove he knew his stuff before I bailed.

Maybe not right, but that is the truth.

If it was sleeves, I wouldn't care. It's not for me, but I don't really care what others do. Like most other things, it is more HOW they are tattooed and how they present themselves which makes for real judgement.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:31:32 PM EDT

[#40]

As someone who hires for my own while collar tech / drafting / engineering office I hire skill-sets and not people... I do not care if you are 8 feet tall, a midget, black, white, christian, jewish, in a wheelchair or missing limbs... if you seem like you can do the job well and you have a good attitude, you're hired.

A while back I hired a young guy who had sleeves tattoos, big hoop ear rings, wore lots of jewelry, etc... and he was the nicest guy you would ever meet as well as a hard worker who had his shit wired tight... he just happened to have very visible tattoos and piercings with one of those skrillex sort of haircuts. He wore the office dress code like everyone else, he was always on time and he always did his job well. He left to start his own company a while back and he is doing well enough on his own last I spoke with him.

Honestly I'd rather have a whole room full of him than some of the buttoned down, pureskin, short haired and shaved Ward Cleaver type who also happens to be the most lazy and slow layabout (like I've had a run of lately).

Then again my business and employees don't deal with the finicky, complaint-happy, find-a-flaw-and-get-someone-fired general public. We work for other companies, who usually don't say boo about anything so long as we are meeting or exceeding our contractual obligations.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:32:40 PM EDT

[#41]

I'm sleeved, and I made 120k last year before bonuses... YMMV

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:33:23 PM EDT

[#42]

I suggest not getting any tattoos that you can't easily hide.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:34:16 PM EDT

[#43]

Not if you're in the oil field. Tats actually help.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:35:10 PM EDT

[#44]

Do you plan on interviewing in a cutoff t-shirt?

If not, you should be fine. I work in a research lab where just about everyone under the age of 30 (i can think of 8 people off the top of my head) have visible tattoos.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:36:22 PM EDT

[#45]

Quote History

Quoted:

Which segment is that?

View Quote View All Quotes

View All Quotes

Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
I can't speak for others but in our business it would matter.Appearances are everything when you are dealing with a certain
segment of society .

Which segment is that?

Landscaper.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:44:43 PM EDT

[#46]

As long as it can remain covered (polo or long sleeve) you are GTG.

Fortune 500 CEO's with neck and/or face tattoo's......I beg you to post a pic.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:44:48 PM EDT

[#47]

If it could be covered by a t-shirt, I don't see how it could be a problem.

Then again, I work in the oilfield and am about the only guy without a tattoo or a felony conviction(or both) out of the 30 people or so I work with daily, so what do I know

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:46:27 PM EDT

[#48]

Tatoos are a generational thing. People my age (I'm 69) were brought up thinking that tatoos were low-class and trashy, things that sailors and gangsters did.

I guess that's changed over the last 20 or 30 years, with college kids getting tatoos. But keep in mind that the older people are still doing the hiring.

If I was doing hiring, and I was presented with two equally qualified applicants. one with tatoos and one without, I wouldn't hire the inkie. Maybe I'm prejudiced, or maybe there are still too many negative associations in my mind.

If you're insisting on getting tatoos (WHY?), at least get them in such a way that they can be hidden.

Putting tatoos on a human body is like spraying graffiti on a beautiful building. All they can do is detract.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:46:35 PM EDT

[#49]

People judge you by the way you look. It may not be right, but that is reality.

Posted: 8/8/2014 1:47:01 PM EDT

[#50]

Quote History

Quoted:
As someone who hires for my own while collar tech / drafting / engineering office I hire skill-sets and not people... I do not care if you are 8 feet tall, a midget, black, white, christian, jewish, in a wheelchair or missing limbs... if you seem like you can do the job well and you have a good attitude, you're hired.

A while back I hired a young guy who had sleeves tattoos, big hoop ear rings, wore lots of jewelry, etc... and he was the nicest guy you would ever meet as well as a hard worker who had his shit wired tight... he just happened to have very visible tattoos and piercings with one of those skrillex sort of haircuts. He wore the office dress code like everyone else, he was always on time and he always did his job well. He left to start his own company a while back and he is doing well enough on his own last I spoke with him.

Honestly I'd rather have a whole room full of him than some of the buttoned down, pureskin, short haired and shaved Ward Cleaver type who also happens to be the most lazy and slow layabout (like I've had a run of lately).

Then again my business and employees don't deal with the finicky, complaint-happy, find-a-flaw-and-get-someone-fired general public. We work for other companies, who usually don't say boo about anything so long as we are meeting or exceeding our contractual obligations.

View Quote

Same for me in IT and now in Cell. I have nearly a hundred employees making around a 100k a year and virtually every, single one of them has tats and the vast majority have the kinds of tats most people would classify as "career killers." Face, neck, hands and some of the most offensive and ignorant shit I've ever seen.

Funny thing is, I can't hire rough looking assholes fast enough to keep up with our growth. Our customers don't care what my guys look like. They *ONLY* care that we can do it, now, well and once, correctly. If you have the chops, I really don't care if you have "Fuck The World" written on your face or a swastika ritual scarred into your forehead or gauged ears I could pass a cantaloupe through.

Can you do the job? Great, you're hired.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do tattoos really make employment difficult? (Page 1 of 7)

General » General Discussion

Warning

Confirm Action

About AR15.COM

Stay Connected

Newsletter

Contact Us