Getting a tattoo may result in your mother crying while your father tells you you’re now unemployable, but is this true? Well…your mother will probably cry, but you’re not necessarily unemployable.
Body art isn’t reserved anymore for sailors or bartenders alone, but has now become common for all walks of life, from doctors and engineers to artists, entrepreneurs, and teachers.
CBS News reports that new research finds 23 percent of college students have one to three tattoos, and 36 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds have tattoos. This makes up more than one third of the young and incoming work force, and it’s hard to imagine that our capitalist market would throw out this large percentage of incoming talent.
However, more conservative work environments do exist, which ask employees to cover their tattoos so as to not hurt relationships with clients. CNN reports that eight percent of tattooed employees report problems at work associated with their body art.
Increasingly though, more entrepreneurial companies such as Google welcome those who express themselves through body art; oftentimes it is even seen as a sign of a free-thinking individual.
So if you have tattoos and are starting a new job, what do you do?
Having two visible tattoos myself, I consistently hide them at work until I get an idea of the culture and have time to research the company’s policies towards tattoos. However, even after I know a company is somewhat ambivalent towards tattoos, I’m usually hesitant to show them for fear of it holding me back at work—thus the daily cardigans.
If you’re a person, though, who does not feel comfortable hiding your tattoos, you can always ask during the interview process about the policies pertaining to the visibility of tattoos.
Whether or not it’s “right” to judge a person by their body art, it’s a reality of our culture, so it’s important to be aware of not only how much your mom will cry once she sees your tattoo, but also how it will affect your professional life.
Allison MacMunn is a tattooed, nonprofit professional living in Chicago, Illinois.
