Body Modification/ Employment

[olpluvr]

1. What are your views on tattoos/ piercings/ scarification?

2. Should they make an employer turned off in hiring a person with them?

3. How would a person know if that is the reason he/she did not get hired Vs. qualifications for the job?

4. Are there any jobs where you feel that these modifications are unacceptable?

5. Which piercings would

Comments

[blando]

1. Tattoos/piercings/scarification are perfectly fine mediums of self expression and/or conforming to the popular form of non-conformer-ism. They are clearly visual things and as such are meant to contribute to a particular image that a person is going for, unless of course they are part of some sort of a spiritual ritual a person is taking part in, which in Western society almost never happens. I've always personally found it a little disturbing the overwhelming focus on image that we all have. Trying to present ourselves in the manner in which we'd like to be viewed as opposed to the way we may in fact be. I can't complain too much as we all do it whether we realize it or not.

2. They should make an employer turned off. In an ideal world people wouldn't judge or generalize a person based on their appearance but people do. Everybody generalizes, you're kidding yourself if you think you don't. If a person is unwilling to deal with that happening in a professional setting then they could jeopardize business for the employer which is going to be a concern. Also it does generally give off a sense of un-professionalism which many employers won't like.

3. Well you may be able to tell from the interviewers initial reaction or overall attitude toward you. Also depends on the level of professionalism expected at that work place.

4. I think really obvious body modification would be unacceptable in most professional settings or more serious customer service settings.

5. I think a few ear piercings would be fine, or an eyebrow or nose stud. Tattoo's are fine if they can be covered or if they aren't covered but are small and out of the way. Basically relatively small and "tasteful" or concealable shouldn't be a problem.

6. Depends on the size, abundance and placement of the body mods. Also depends on the job being applied for and the persons overall attitude. If a person had a little more mods than I would normally think appropriate but seemed very interested and professionally mannered, well dressed and all that I'd probably let it slide a bit more.

7. That all depends on what I've said above. I've often found it amusing how, in my experience, some of the people I've known who are much more pierced and tatted up complain about the judgmentalism of others but often are very judgmental people themselves. People know full well when they go in to get some form of body art done that its going to affect how people view them. As I said above, they are going for a particular self image. They must also know that not all people view those modifications in as favourable a light and that it may cause them problems with getting a job in the future. They made their decisions and I don't see how they can complain about it later on when they knew to consequences going in.

I personally don't have a problem with tattoo's or piercings. I have a couple in mind that I might like to get in the near future, but I'm getting tattoo's that I can conceal and smaller tasteful piercings. People can do whatever they want but they should know not everyone will react the way they might want and that there are people who will apply negative stereotypes to them just as they might do so towards someone else going for a different self image.