[salary.com] Survey: Tattoos Hurt Your Chances To Getting A Job

it depends on the industry you work in, but in general i would agree...and i have several tattoos.

i work in a pretty conservative industry and i have to say when i see people with visible tattoos even i think its kind of unprofessional. if i was a sales manager i would make them cover up. the most common i see are women with ankle tattoos.

there are still plenty of people out there who do not like tattoos and look down on people with them. first impressions are huge, especially in sales or a service-driven business and visible tattoos are still a negative to many.

again, i have several tattoos.

 

My wife has had employees with visible tattoos, which was a concern. Obviously, we hired them anyway, but it's a customer-facing business so you're concerned about the image you present to the public. For our image, we want customers to respect the employees' education, experience, and professionalism, and the class-associations that come with tattoos run counter to the effect we want. In that regard, I think you have to put more focus on the rest of your presentation -- your clothes, your hair, your demeanor, etc -- to offset the handicap you gave yourself with a tattoo.

In a corporate environment, I think you face the same problem. Even if you get the job, there's a lot of elements to commanding the respect and confidence of peers and superiors and reports aside from the quality of your work. If people subconsciously make certain conclusions about you because of your tattoos, you may have to do even better work or offset in other ways to overcome that impression. That you would reject the obvious professional prudence of avoiding tattoos that would go uncovered says something in itself of the priority of your career in your life.

 

Of all types, women's ankle tattoos probably get the most grace, at least.

 

Is this actually news? I think we knew this a decade ago. Like others have said, it depends on the industry and there are always exceptions.

 

Some people can't handle this truth...
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It surprises me when I see someone at work with a tattoo showing. I don't have anything against tattoos, but I do feel that you should be aware when you are getting them of future workplace concerns. A good example is Kevin Durant. He has more tattoos than most people, but even in a profession that bares his arms and legs, you cant see any of them because of where he had them placed.

I know a guy who is an attorney that has a few tattoos, but he has them to where you cant see them when he is wearing his work attire.

 

Just get a tattoo on your back, problem solved. Don't need all the fancy smancy stuff on the neck,arm,face unless you are going to a freak show in Las Vegas.

 

My 12yr old daughter wants tats on her wrists, I think I'm gonna puke!!

 

It also depends on the Tats as well. If you have a tat of your loved ones or family members in memoriam on your arm, I'm sure they will let it slide. It's paying out of respect, they can't say crap to that.

 

I'd be like hell no!!!! Not on my watch..

 

Unless it's a tramp stamp.

Giggity giggity

 

I think tatts in pr0nz is hot. Not enough females have tatts in the industry.

 

My girlfriend teaches high school and loads of her students have tattoos. She has a full back design, yet somehow develops the lesson plans for her subject for the whole district.

You are a million years old.

 

My friend's 5 year old daughter already wants tats like mommy's, and she has a bunch.

 

I was at a Raiders game last year, and I think I was like one of 3 people in the stadium without a tattoo.

 

Yawn, nothing new to see here. Duh. This is especially true at places that have been in business for a long time. Whole Foods is a notable exception. It is also probably more tolerable if you're looking for a job in construction or warehousing. Or certain IT jobs/companies where you'll be often alone and they don't care what you look like as long as you get the job done.

Management at many companies tends to be older (30s and up) and tends to be conservative. They also care about the image candidates and employees present to customers, clients, business partners and other employees in the same or other departments. Some client may be considering using your company for a nice money-making project but might ultimately decide to take their business elsewhere due to a first impression that your company's coming across as unprofessional and distasteful appearance-wise. Many companies don't want your tats to be a possible "distraction" to other employees while they're doing their jobs.

Same holds true for certain hairstyles, body-piercings, dyeing your hair with "loud" colors (such as pink or blue), facial hair, your weight, men wearing earrings and necklaces/chains, and so on. All of these things can be windows into your inner character (accurate or not) in the eyes of other people.

The policy at my company is that tattoos are fine if you can cover them up.

I think in the case of some schools...principals and superintendents are noticing that a decent percentage of elementary and middle-school kids already have exposed tats, and upwards of 30-40% of high-schools have tats...so they're more willing to just say "f**k it" and be OK with teachers having 'em too.

 

The more interesting study would be if people with tattoo's are in actuality in some way less [something?... productive?... I don't know], especially when you take into account other variables (background, schooling, etc.).

ALL else being equal, does a person with tattoos underperform vs. a person with tattoos?

I haven't done ANY research, but personal opinion leads me to believe one actually has nothing to do with the other.

I have no problem with tattoos, and only associate them with a different type of person creatively.

 

Pics of gf with tattoo.