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Do tattoos affect your career or future?

Tattoos are dumb. It's like keeping a style that you're inevitably going to grow out of. Skinny jeans were fashionable not that long ago - luckily they weren't etched into my skin. People seem to think they'll be that hipster 20 year old forever. When in reality, you're just going to look silly with a tattoo further down the line. It's like calling your kid something that sounds cute when they're a child but is totally ridiculous once they become an adult.
 
Nope, I have visible tattoos and they never effected my job or future. I just cover them up if I have to. Piercings always were a bitch to hide but I managed that too!

I have my nose and septum but those are easy to hide... as well as my tongue piercing. I use to have angel bites, then a monroe and I then got my lip done but rip to all of those. I might get my lip done again.... I just wear bioplast bars in those piercings. Other than that I'm studying psychology and am also going to get my tattoo apprenticeship (I am also majoring in fine arts:D). So yeah I love body modification.
 
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I love tattoos, and am not in a formal profession like a doctor or a lawyer, I work in the corporate world, in IT, IT security, most people in infosec are a bit eccentric anyway.

I would not work at a place that had a no tattoo policy, unless it was in a very different, non-western culture where some sometimes you just have to put your inner hipster in the closet.

Why would anyone want to work, in a western country at a job that dictated those sort of things? You have to conform and pretend to be someone else enough already.
 
I have a few tattoos & some colleagues have commented if I go in the office on a Friday in casual. Nothing negative but I usually keep them covered & am pretty clean cut so seeing me with forearm tatts may have been a shock to their system.

Pradaxa said:
What amazes me is the number of pretty young gals with neck tats, calf tats and hand tats....I DONT judge but wonder if at the ripe old age of 18, people are really ready to be inked forever.

I respect the commitment but wonder what happens in 20 years...

Peace
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I think the same thing Pradaxa. Every time I have a session I see at least 2 young girls come in off the street & make a decision they will regret. I once sat getting a 4 hour session & saw 3 school leavers getting their first tatt. One picked a star sign for her pelvis, one picked a flower for her foot & the other picked a tramp stamp. I was horrified to see her complaining she was $20 short for the one she really wanted so she was going to get the cheaper one instead. I took a smoke break & asked the girl what one she really liked. I then gave her the $20 & I really hope she did want that flash off the wall.

I am not judgemental but question the thought process of many young people I see with serious tattoo coverage at 20. Not that they may regret whatever usually old school flash they have but hand/neck/face tattoos is a huge commitment. I am comfortable about my job that I can get any tatt so long as I can cover it with a dress shirt/suit but having visible tattoos can be restrictive in your attire at work. I don't hide my tattoos at work but keep them covered for professional reasons unless I am going to be working in the office & only having internal meetings.
 
I got tattoos on my hands to close some doors. I wwas going to get them anyways, but I got them sooner than late to close doors. And not turn back from my path through weakness of will.
 
i think it's kind of come to the point where so many people have tattoos, across so many different age groups/races/professions, that it's kind of a moot point. there are obviously some exceptions -- racist/gang/face tats will probably always close doors. that and severe body modifications like elf ears. i work for some pretty conservative jews, and i interviewed with all my tattoos visible, and they didn't say a word. i asked them about it and they said tattoos don't matter anymore, they just don't like piercings. i said that's totally fine. none of my tattoos are in places where i can't hide them, nor are any of them "outrageous" or offensive.
 
as long as they aren't offensive or too obvious of having drug affiliations, not nowadays with this economy employers want the most skilled employees, for example a friend of mine got hired at dell not exactly sure what position but highly paid and desired, and he has his septum pierced and two sleeves tattooed, however some employers will discriminate, although you could wear long sleeved shirts like many do :)
 
It really depends on where you live, I think... I'm in Canada and I have big black tattoos on the inside of both of my arms. They're easy to cover with long sleeves but I never bothered to do it for job interviews, and I never felt that it was a problem. I work in social sciences research now, but I've worked in customer service for 7-8 years prior to that (bank, convenience store, retail), and even then it was never an issue. I even teached at the college level, without ever hearing anything negative about my tattoos, even if I rarely wear long sleeves.

I think it also depends on what kind of tattoos you have. If your arms are covered in naked bimbos with huge boobs, it might become a problem, but if you have more stylish, abstract tattoos, most of the time people just want to know what they mean. I have been asked that question in a couple of job interviews.
 
I never got the appeal of tattoos. If you want to show off your body go to the gym and work on being fit and healthy instead of letting someone doodle on your skin and regretting it later in life.

Their effect on job prospects will depend on your profession, but lets just say visible tattoos wil not be a positive attribute unless youre a bouncer at a club or something like that.
 
Care said:
Their effect on job prospects will depend on your profession, but lets just say visible tattoos wil not be a positive attribute unless youre a bouncer at a club or something like that.
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It's kind of true in a sense that if you are a professional and good at your job tats don't make you better/worse at it. If you have a profession where tats are frowned upon don't a) get a tattoo, b) get into that profession.

If you don't feel sure - don't get a tattoo. Or get it to a place you can hide it.

But try to remember that it's your thing and you have to live with it. Like i do. Outside fascinating field of... bouncing, might I add.
 
my tats have never been an issue, and i openly expose the ones on my forearms quite often in all of my jobs. i wouldn't evr consider getting something on my neck, and am stunned at how common it is these days. it's so wide spread i think it will progressively mean less and less in the workforce.
 
grumpygrouse said:
It's kind of true in a sense that if you are a professional and good at your job tats don't make you better/worse at it. If you have a profession where tats are frowned upon don't a) get a tattoo, b) get into that profession.

If you don't feel sure - don't get a tattoo. Or get it to a place you can hide it.

But try to remember that it's your thing and you have to live with it. Like i do. Outside fascinating field of... bouncing, might I add.
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I hope you don't think im looking down on people with tattoos people because thats not true. Most of my friends have tattoos in one form or another and some have very large ones. I just dont see them as being something ill ever do myself.

I was only trying to say that from a career standpoint you're better off without them 99% of the time.
 
Refusing to hiring someone because of peircings/tattoos/etc.

Some companies will not hire people if they have tattoos or large lip/ear/nose jewelry, because it goes against the company's brand and is a part of company policy. But with such economical hard times, does this seem right? canceling out a completely qualified person, sometimes even an overqualified rock star to do to the job?

Thoughts?
Comments?
 
Hi BNL,

What's the job for which you applied? Did anyone tell you outright that you were not hired because of your tattoos or piercings? If you're in WA State, you're not in a protected class (such as gender/pregnancy/race/ethnicity) so it's a matter of your prospective employer's preference.

You can always follow up by offering to wear clothing that covers your tattoos and take out your piercings while you're on the clock. Our dress code is very relaxed when not in meetings; we dress up for those. We wouldn't get our paychecks to have our tats and piercings otherwise.
 
In some industries/roles it is simply detrimental to the company to hire someone with visible tattoos or piercings. "Right" or not, it's just the way things currently are unfortunately.
 
Tattoos have actually led to increased interests in me from previous prospective employers, but I have worked in fine dining for most of my adult life. I'd image my sleeve (only outwardly visible work) containing decapitated samurai heads would scare away conservative employers.
Its based upon a similar theme to this:
tumblr_ly5elnN2PE1rnnjnno1_500.jpg
 
That's interesting that you've actually had increased interest from employers stemming from your tattoos. I don't believe I've ever heard of that, merely the opposite. Hopefully, with tattoos becoming more mainstream and commonplace, they become less of a detriment and more of an afterthought.
 
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