Zerial, why is your IT department especially hazardous to toes?
Because I work at a small engineering company with more servers than employees. “Carrying” is a proportionally larger portion of the workweek than the typical office, and I like keeping my people uninjured.
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RaftPeople, I would hire that guy if he had the skills. What’s offensive about eyes? Sure, it’s a weird aesthetic choice, but I’m in the business of keeping a server farm running, not making aesthetic judgements.
Magiver, cope. Give me an example of a tattoo that’s offensive for some other reason than the bare fact it’s a tattoo, and we’ll just play judging games right now. I already said I’d have no problem hiring the guy with the full Darth Maul face job. I’d hire that guy who got his face surgically altered to make him a better cat-furry, too, if he had 5+ years in Unix/Linux with a focus on high-performance clustering environments.
The link above has a series of tattoos that are unprofessional in a work environment. If you don’t understand that then cope.
Maybe in YOUR work environment. I’ll continue to hire any who are better qualified than other candidates, and my employers will be better off for it. shrugs I must be doing something right, my business card has said “Director of IT” or a synonym thereof since I was in my mid-twenties.
No, not in MY environment. In the real world. The thread isn’t about you and it’s not about me. It’s not about the skill-sets of people with tattoos. It’s about tattoo policies in the workplace.
Putting aside my disbelief that you are willing to hire someone with an alien face tattooed on the back of his head it’s unrealistic to think this doesn’t affect a person’s ability to find work while wearing a permanent Halloween mask.
Try to think of it this way: Zeriel is providing a social service by hiring the unemployable. Not unemployable anywhere–I’m sure there is a motorcycle repair shop willing to hire Darth Maul and a comic book store to hire Mr Puss-Puss–but at the lion’s share of companies a Zeriel would not know they had even arrived at the interview because they would not make it past the receptionist unless he or she thought the office needed a laugh. And then the event would go down in company history, brought up for another laugh at every company get together.
Which, generally, are stupid and counterproductive.
I’m sure it was unrealistic for a single mother to expect that fact to not affect her ability to find work in the 1950s, too, but fortunately society changes for the better. I’d just rather do my part, since I’m in a position to have hire authority, than to cling to a useless status quo.
I never said it was offensive, it’s just unusual.
I wouldn’t hire that person. And I wouldn’t hire a person that purposely talks like John Wayne.
I have hired a person whose verbal communication was 95% quotes from bad cartoons, who dressed like a flood victim who could only afford Goodwill, and who took 6-10 smoke breaks a day…and happened to be one of the most driven, self-starting young men I’ve ever seen apply for a linux administrator position. He’s running his own IT department now.
On some level, my hiring philosophy is that I want to hire rock stars to work in my server room. And the kind of talent that makes someone a star tends to correlate well with unusual aesthetic choices.
Now, I will readily admit that the kind of mindset that generates the most off-the-wall aesthetic choices is not going to generally correlate with the kind of “rock star” personal qualities I’m looking for, either. I’m just not willing to take the chance without interviewing the person in question and feeling out their skills.
What’s stupid about social constructs of dress in different social situations?
What don’t you understand about the word “strawman”. The title of the thread is “Tattoo policies in the workplace - advice sought”.
You’ve take a position of “anything goes in the office” regarding appearance. There are standards of appearance in society for different social settings and that is a fact of life. Your opinion doesn’t change that fact. This is a thread seeking advice. Acknowledging that the world doesn’t march to your drum would be a good start but you can’t get passed strawman responses.
nobody is questioning skill versus appearance. Why do you keep bringing this up? It’s another strawman. It’s interesting that you would question the aesthetic choices of the most off-the-wall tattoo and make assumptions. But that’s for another thread.
Not Vice President of IT or CIO?
I was CIO once, but I tend to work mostly for privately held firms that evolved out of engineering shops–in most of 'em, I’ve also got the most college credits and real-world experience in business management of anyone on the senior staff. Current place doesn’t have Vice Presidents, it has Directors.
Thread drifts from original topic because some people are interested in making it more general! Film at 11!
:dubious: Your thread posting skills need a front end alignment because you keep drifting over to fields of straw.
We all understand your position that what a person looks like shouldn’t matter but in the real world the choices people make in their personal appearance will be judged by others. You yourself questioned the thought behind “the most off the wall” tattoos. By using the words “off the wall” you have made a judgement. There is no correlation to talent but it does call into question the person’s acknowledgment of the world around him.
There will always be shades of gray on a line drawn. But rest assured, the line exists.
If he’s got 5 years in Linux/Unix server admin with a focus on cluster management, I’ll give him an interview at the very least.
This thread has gotten ridiculous. Is the OP even still here? Zero tolerance tattoo rules to me are just as stupid as people getting ice cream cones tattooed on their faces and being like, “What? What’s the problem?” Particularly if a company has previously allowed reasonable tattoos to be visible, a sudden to change barring all inked body art is dumb. Sylver, yo, if you’re still around, what’d you end up doing?
At least everything is spelled correctly.
Still here… I’ve been keeping up on the thread. Scratching my head at the sheer stubbornness of some people. Wondering if Zeriel is hiring…
I apologize for my lack of response, been a crazy week – 2 honorary nieces graduating, a visit from my brother and his kids, and my numbskull son got a DUI.
Back to the subject at hand though… At this point, I’m already on the hunt for a new job. Lawyer didn’t really turn up anything that would help or hurt either way, and I’m not going to spend any more money on that avenue when the writing is on the wall. I also found a section of the employee manual that states that the company can change policy at any time.
Management has made it perfectly clear they are unwilling to negotiate. The more people argue, the more of a hardline they intend to take. It’s so strange. They are going to be knocking down walls and creating a breakroom on our floor to accommodate those up in arms about no eating at our desks. We’re talking about a major expenditure to remodel an area that was just remodeled about 8 years ago, including plumbing, appliances and furnishings.
I wish I could tell the folks in this thread who’ve encouraged me that I intend to fight this stupidity to the dying end. But I’ll have to be content knowing that they will be losing an awesome employee with a ton of knowledge that’s not written down anywhere. Selfish? Yep. Apologetic? Nope.
In the meantime, I have to hide the tats while I’m outside my office. I’ve taken Hester Prynne’s approach to the whole thing. If I have to wear a damn bracelet every time I step out of my office, then the bracelets are going to be 10x’s more obnoxious than my tattoos. I’ve already ordered a few online, and am making one that looks like chain mail. To hide the one on the inside of my wrist, they have to be 3 inches wide, so it’s going to be noticeable, no matter what. As bright and loud as I can possible make them or find them. I have 2 seminars to give next week, and a third the week after. I’m not sure what the hell I’m going to do besides go shopping for a long sleeved outfit or two.
Thanks to all that replied. I don’t have to agree with your opinion to learn something from it.