Employment & Tattoos

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"Never get a tattoo where a judge can see it." -- Quote from article

Job Seekers Still Have to Hide Tattoos

Please read the entire article, and then respond to the poll.

Thank you.

The stigma isn't what it once was, but many jobs are concerned about employees representing their company and the image they want to project. Very few are judged on their work/action itself, even though we constantly preach otherwise. <lucky bastards>

My tattoos are easily covered.

I am "other" out of the work force now and my tattoos are in an area that does not show unless you are someone who knows me intimately

I've had visible (if wearing short sleeves) tattoos since I was 16. I worked full-time from age 18 up to just before my 30th birthday, when I became ill. Both biceps, both forearms, both lower legs, and my chest are inked.

In my case, tattoos have not been a barrier to employment. I do like to think that mine are at least tasteful, and certainly not deliberately offensive.

However, I think tattoos on the face or on the hands are not appropriate for most public-facing jobs. I have rejected job applications in the past from people who have them.

Edit: I picked 'other'. I am currently unemployed, but this is unrelated to my tattoos... unless of course, tattoos can cause severe mental health issues

My tattoos can be covered but I'm not required to. I work in an office, often interact with the public, and have never had an issue raised concerning my body art. At least nothing has been brought to my attention. My tattoos hold deep spiritual meaning for me and I wouldn't want to work for someone that valued appearance over aptitude.

Gillian Welch.

I picked "self-employed" as the best match for a stay-at-home dad ....

I'm old enough to associate tattoos with sailors, bikers, and criminals. So I did consider getting one while I was in the Navy, but never could think of a design I wanted to look at the rest of my life. Now that tats are trendy I'll definitely never get one.

I'm currently unemployed & no tats but I have some scars from slashing my arm. The scars are on my upper arm so shirts with longer short sleeves cover em. But I wore short sleeves when I worked & I used my arms for work alot(dish washing, then floor care in retail, & custodial in retail) so they were seen some but thankfully only a few people asked. Anyways getting back to tats... I think they can be covered up in most places by simply dressing appropriately nice; like long pants, shirt goes down to pants & shirt has longer short sleeved or is long sleeved. Keeping them covered shouldn't limit employment options unless showing skin is important for the job like model, porn, or waitressing at Hooters. I also think the type of tattoos that are seen can make a difference too; like having an animal or name tat would be better than having a devil tat. A guy I worked with at WalMart had a devil tat on his arm & he wore short sleeves; he didn't really worship Satan or anything.

I went to a Catholic high-school & one of my teachers who was also a coach had a navy tat on his arm & he was required to wear long sleeves because of it even when he was outside coaching & it gets pretty hot & humid during the summer, latter spring & early winter time there so he probably hated having to wear long sleeves then.

I clicked on: Employed with visible tattoos.

I have dots on my knuckles and a few homemade ones. Some of them I have had removed and they are very old and faint. I also have one that is visible on the inside of my forearm.

I'm glad I never had a borstal spot. I was going to get one when I was a kid.

I do have really bad scarring at the tops of my arms where I attempted to remove my tattoos myself. That looks worse than the actual tattoo.

I do usually cover them up the best I can for interviews, but most people have tattoos where I work anyway.

Obviously I'm unemployed without tattoos.
Personally I don't see why these days there's an issue with most of them.
The patterns I see with a lot of tattoos aren't any different than patterns I see on shirts.
I think the 21st century needs to lighten up when it comes to this stuff.
The same with men having beards or long hair or earrings etc. Like chill out, don't be so uptight.

I am employed, well-paid and have tattoos that can be visible- if I wear short sleeved shirts or sleeveless shirts and shorts. My others are in areas always covered anyways.

There's one man and a woman who works at my school's library and they both have visible tattoos on their arm.

When I go to fast food restaurants, I sometimes see employees with tattoos. Mostly in the arms or biceps. As long as it's not too offensive, I don't think it's a problem.