Well, I'm an employer myself. I have 38 full time employees now in a company that processes metals and metal finishing. When someone comes in for a job interview with us and has tattoos on the face, neck or hands, forget it. Apply somewhere else. (You said you didn't want to hear any "bullchit," so I'm honestly answering your question).

If their tattoos are on the arms, fine because long sleeves can cover them up. Heck, we even allow long sleeves rolled up the forearm. If a tattoo is showing a little bit up the arm, that's okay. However, tattoos on the hands, fingers, knuckles, neck, face, etc... Reminds me of prison. Many of our employees have one-on-one contact with customers and presentation is everything.

To add to the tattoos, is "face metal." I guess I'm old school, but what the F^€# is that? like a big fish hook or piece of barbed wire in the lip, cheek, nose, eye brow, tongue etc.... Seriously, WTF? I'd never hire anyone with that crap in their face and I'm not the only employer with that thought. Or how about these youngsters now with giant holes in their ears trying to be like a bushman or something. :dizzy: it just looks like crap and I'm one of the few that give folks jobs. ...but not with metal barbs that look like plasma cutting consumables sticking out of their faces.

I tell my own kids to just be glad we are seeing more and more people that put "shrapnel" or 1" diameter pipe through the ear lobes and ink on their neck/faces. Those types of individuals that choose to "mod" their bodies that way only help my kids with a job interview advantage in the future!

Back on point.... A tatted down guy on the line just turns off a lot of people in the business world and in today's economy, I won't take ANY preventable risks of potentially loosing business. Boeing and American Honda are two of our big customers with reps showing up weekly to our facility. When a Boeing rep is inspecting our facility and quality control, I don't want to have employees working on the line that makes us look like a shop within San Quentin prison.

Remember, every employee within any type of profession, represents. You represent yourself, and more importantly, you represent your company (who gives you that very important pay check you need, that allows you to continually represent yourself).

 

Good post, it is true and unfortunate that we are in a society that is more concerned with what you look like than who you really are... simple fix is to become your own boss instead of work for someone else.
When your front line workers have direct contact with your customers, then you do have to consider the image it presents....

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It's a 100% turnoff as an employer. I have employees with visible tattoos, but if equal candidates for the job were interviewing, I'd pick the one without them.

It's not how you as the employer feels about them, it's how customers will perceive them. Hell, plenty of my friends are covered and I could care less. Work is different though.

 

Hey. If your building for me I don't give a damn where you have them as long as you can build.In my gardens you need to know plants an animals. PERIOD.

At a restaurant-hotel concierge ? You aren't getting the job. Neither is a 200 lb woman going to be bartending or waiting tables.
It's just business.

A question like yours will get you the opinions=asczholes result every time.

May I help you maddam ?

 

In my business, tat's are cool. Oilfield workers are covered with them. They are my market. Peircings, on the other hand, are a safety violation. So is jewelry and other grounding points. If you want to be employed by a welding company, dont have a lot of iron hanging from your, um everything...

 

I agree. It's toofs need cleaning. :dizzy:umpkin:umpkin:umpkin:

 

:laugh::laugh::laugh:She just had to cover up her moustache!!!! :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

 

My cousin works for a chip board company and the owner does not allow visable tattoos at work.

 

Body art is not universally accepted as simply art. Most people think that tats and piercings are some kind of statement, but are unsure of just what that statement is. What is not even given a thought in some circles is frowned on in other circles.
Obviously, having tats might be detrimental to landing a job in some instances, or else you would not have bothered to pose the question.
With today's litigious and oh so PC attitude pervading society, should you ever be told you did not get the job because you have ink.............just tell them the tats are for your religious beliefs.

 

One time I seen an apprentice run off for having an ear ring. I would think having tattoos in most trades wouldn't be much of a problem if you can do the work. Chances of going into management are slim to none. Looking like you fell face first into a tackle box, I can see the safety man having a huge fit over that!

 

Lol well this was my first post on here and y'all actually helped me out thanks a lot


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Well I always dress to impress I may be a "blue collar" worker but that doesn't mean I don't dress fancy my tattoos are for my self, and maybe a female who thinks they are sexy lol! I most always cover them in a formal situation nobody needs to see them but me


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connorsx15

Neck and hand tattoos tell people more than you want them to know - and
you are stuck projecting the same message regardless of your maturation.

Bad tatts are the loudest - silent employment obstacle - you will never hear.

Opus

 

Just wear a burka to the interview.

 

You mean one of these

 

I'll just get a sex change and become Muslim and then I can't show any skin so they will never know


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I gave up on judging people with tattoos when 4 of my sons joined the Marines. However even the Marines do not allow anything visible while wearing a teeshirt. They will not allow a well trained marine to reinlist if he has such a tattoo either. There are some volunteer groups that will remove them for no charge if it is a problem getting a job, especially gang tattoos. Glad Tidings Church in Yuba City, Ca runs such a program. I don't know if the have connections where you live.

 

My buddy lives in yuba. I live in Louisville, ky but it's not really a problem becuz I don't want to remove my tattoos. Too be honest any employer who thinks I'm less of a hard worker or some inferior being for having tattoos idk if I really wanna work for them in the first place


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My buddy lives in yuba. I live in Louisville, ky but it's not really a problem becuz I don't want to remove my tattoos. Too be honest any employer who thinks I'm less of a hard worker or some inferior being for having tattoos idk if I really wanna work for them in the first place

As stated above, sometimes the employer is only thinking of how the clients will view tattoos. It's about the company's profits in that case - which pays everyone's salary.

No different then having a painting on the wall in the shop IMHO. It's art we should all be free to express it the way we please without having to face consequences but that just happens the be the society we live in

I get freedom of expression and I fully support the constitution.

Couple points:
There is a limit to the art I can hang on the wall at work - same type thing.

To be specific, my friend has a tat of a naked chick riding the devil's tongue (between the legs). Extremely good art, but must be covered at work.

The owner of a company has the right to decide what happens at his/her company and you have an equal right to decide if you want to work there.

 

No different then having a painting on the wall in the shop IMHO. It's art we should all be free to express it the way we please without having to face consequences but that just happens the be the society we live in


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Having tats knocks a big hole in your in your reservoir of employers,the more blatant the tats,the bigger the hole .

 

I made a promise to my dear Grandmother years ago. I would never get anything that I could not cover with jeans and a T shirt. Out of respect for her, whenever I went for a visit I made sure she did not see them.
Same goes for employers. If they are not seen it is a non issue. My tattoos are personal to me, so I get to choose if I want them to be seen.
Sure you can protest that it is your right, it is art, yada, yada. BUT it is the employers right to choose the people who represent that company.

 

I have no use for piercings, tats, or even jewelry of any kind. I don't even wear a watch or wedding band (for various reasons, none emotional). But while I get confused looking at folks with a scrap metal pile in their face, and hearing about where some get them gives me the heebie-jeebies, I really could not care less. But I will relate that quite some time ago I did a stint in a Custom Die Shop (focused on hard jobs most turned away) working as an "Engineer" (pumped up title frankly) in the office area where I/we had a good deal of interaction with customer representatives as well as sales personnel of various types.

Anyway, there was a guy in the shop who was very well respected. Dressed like a typical worker, followed the safety requirements (boots, hat, etc), just a good worker except on the odd Mondays he came in still hung over, but mostly overlooked as they kept him out of harms way till he "found his legs" and then got to work. When I started, he was clearly tattooed pretty heavily on his torso and upper arms, some pretty cool work really, mostly old school black and gray with a little dusky color thrown in as accent. Had a certain element of "art", a lot of "skill", and in spite of being a real honest "tough guy", they even displayed a certain amount of "pretty" as well.

Overall well liked in the shop, and had skills that would have transfer with value to the office. But in the mean time he had expanded the work past elbows and up high on his neck, places hard to cover, but were not hurting him at that point.

But he liked to ride, and ride aggressively. One night, like myself a few years earlier, was pushing the limits and beyond when it caught up with him in a bad way. Landed in a wheel chair, painful rehab to approach moderate function in his legs (using cane or walker), always likelihood of pain management for the rest of his life. Pain and the pain meds required to function adequately. My extremity damage was considerably worse than his, but his spine and brain swelling left him in a far worse condition. Luckily he had accentual medical coverage sufficient to his need and some coverage for good rehab. In the end he was unable to be a machine operator due to liability issues. But the guy wasn't just a monkey on a machine, he wanted to move to the office coming inside. I believe he could certainly do the work, but in the end he was rejected among much yelling and gnashing of teeth. The official reason was lack experience and training, but it was well underwood by all that while they were not bothering management or the other workers at all, some of our clients (or their peoples working on their behalf) were pretty "up tight" and might have a problem with the tats. So instead of a silver lining moving into better working conditions and pay which he was capable do; instead he lost that job completely.

 

This right here was a human rights violation as well a duty to accomodate.

 

In most workshops in Western Europe I've been to (that are a few), tats are frowned upon, in fact almost everything is frowned upon. Where I currently work, even the "nice" calendars that sales reps give us, aren't allowed any more.

Being tattood myself (on my torso, not visible unless I undress) and having a relatively high engineering position in our company, I really don't like those rules as I think we're being both "babied" and screwed at the same time by the powers that be.
I declined our latest teambuilding as it was at a swimming facility (and because there are no girls at work), because I knew I was going to have words because of those tats.

As I work mainly with weldors, some of whom come from ship wharfs, I have absolutely no issues with tats, profanity, swearing, tobacco chewing, spitting, not even if they do it all at once, as long as they do their jobs. I shake their hands when I come in, and my guys really respect me for that, as where I work most of the staff look down on them.

 

I recommend against tattoos and piercings to my grandkids. Why place limits on your potential livelihood and earnings potential, whether deserved or not. You only get one chance to make a first impression, don't let your tats speak for you.

 

Again, no disrespect intended, but I understand a lot of you old timers don't like tattoos hence me saying I don't care what you have to say about them. I just wanted to know if anyone has ran into problems. The tattoos are on me, and they are on me for life and I love them if I really couldn't get a job (which wouldn't happen in this field) I would become a tattoo artist. Boom all problems disappear, but I love to weld and that's what I want to do. I just wanted stories from people who have them as heavily as I do. None of my work is offensive. It's religious (catholic) and japanese style work.


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I don't really care whether you have them or not. I would hire a tattooed worker, but I might scrutinize you a little more if I didn't know you or have a referral from someone I trust.
For me, I look at any man that spends a lot of time on his appearance, as someone who spends less time on working. That goes for fancy hair cuts, manicures, teeth work or whatever.
In my business (transportation construction), a lot of the "workers" have visible tats. The bosses do not. You can draw your own conclusions.

 

Well the plan is to open my own business so hopefully I don't have to worry about becoming a boss for somebody else's company


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If you want to know if anyone else has had problems, you will never know that answer and nor will the person with the tattoos.


What, you think they'll just come straight out and tell you it's because you have too many tattoos for their liking? Not gonna happen.

I remember seeing a movie when I was a kid, 35 years ago, it was about a military guy trying to make his way up but was passed over, because of one silver dollar sized tattoo. That part stuck with me, working class, always working class, never management.

My advice to any youngsters is: Keep em above the elbows and below the neck. I have many tattoos, mostly out of sight, only one below the elbow a bit. But at this point in my life I really don't care,, don't think I'll be an executive in any fortune 500 company, specially since I've been working construction/building trades all my life.

If you want to be management, "don't carry tool bags". Be related to somebody high up in the company, preferably the owner. Over achieve and most of all, be related to somebody in the company.

George Carlin was spot on, it's a club you don't have access to and never will. Your great grandfather was a shoe maker, your father was a shoe maker and you will be a shoemaker. paraphrasing....

On the upside regarding tattoos, the guys like me that don't have them plastered all over my hands and neck look way better than all the ghetto lookin fools.... not that will matter much since I've gone out on my own and I work for MY company.

Short answer: They wouldn't tell you if it was a problem.