I've been meaning to blog about this for a while now. We're in the process of returning to face to face interviews and that brings with it, a return to the more formal nature of the interview. For the past 18 months the creative agency world has thrived in terms of hiring new staff via Zoom/Teams/Google and after 18 months where all the interviewer really can see is head and shoulders, the face to face interview has brought a few considerations back to the fore in terms of how you present yourself to a potential employer.
Truth. We are humans. We judge people.
When it comes to interviews, there are usually three key areas where judgements can be made. Tattoos, Make-up and Piercings. Yes, we work in the creative industry but first impressions count here as much as they do in any industry. Apparently 35% of Brits in the 30-39 age group have a tattoo so it's entirely possible that the person interviewing you may have a tattoo but at interview my advice has always been that discretion is the way forward.
With interviews, you potentially get just one shot to impress. Why waste any amount of focus on wondering whether a potential employer is silently (or unconsciously) judging your tattoos? Clearly, there is a caveat as to what role you are interviewing for and in the main, the rule of thumb is that the more 'client facing' you are going to be, the more discreet it's wiser to be. Make the interview a referendum of your skills rather than your ink . Undoubtedly, tattoos are more acceptable now in the workplace than ever before, the advice here is that you don't need to flaunt them at interview.
I would usually expect an individual to show some discretion when it comes to make-up but there were two recent situations which I wanted to highlight. The first, where a female interviewee suffered the mishap of a fake eye-lash falling off during an interview. This wasn't the reason she didn't get the job, however, the (female) interviewer struggled to understand the extent of make-up that the individual wore - 'save it for the weekend' was the comment made. The second situation was where the candidate arrived for interview with a full face of immaculately applied make-up. He didn't get the job. One could argue discrimination, however, I have some sympathy for employers. If a role is client facing then an employer has to consider the attitudes and opinions of their clients. Whilst our industry is not bland in any way, when we are considering how to best present ourselves at interview, it is sensible to exercise some restraint - don't give your interviewer any distractions. You want them to assess you on your skills and experience alone.
Before tattoos became so popular, piercings were the thing people talked about in the interview forums. Typically earrings are fine (although again that can differ according to sex - a male with a long row of ear piercings might be judged differently to a female). A discreet nose stud - no problem. Taking it to eyebrows and septum - well, that's where judgements start and potentially bias too.
In life generally, 'less is more' is an adage that I quite like. Whether it's the subtlety of your make-up, your perfume (you don't want the interviewers remembering that you made them nauseous), your visible piercings or a full sleeve tattoo, you can still retain your character, your true self and make sure that it is your skills and experience that you are remembered for.
I don't write blogs to get people's backs up. Inclusivity and Diversity are at the forefront of every HR person's mind when they are interviewing and over the last 20 years, I've seen our industry make great strides in being open and welcoming to employees in all shapes and sizes no matter how they look or what their beliefs are. I'm also a make-up junkie and have piercings although I'm not a fan of needles. My job is also to help people succeed in their interview and that includes advising on how you come across to an employer. I told my husband I was writing on this subject and he winced - he was right, it's not an easy subject to cover because whilst on the one hand I'm advocating 'dumbing down' and if employers are truly recruiting based on skills and not displaying bias (whether conscious or not), it shouldn't matter if you've got a tattoo/septum piercing. This is a debate I'm not even trying to win, it comes back to letting your ability to do the job shine during the interview and don't let anything else distract the interviewer.
One final note. I saw a statistic that over 50% of HR Managers stated that bad breath in an interviewee would put them off more than a tattoo. So personal hygiene comes first - have a wash, be clean and brush your teeth!