Tattoos still forbidden for employers:
Those considering body art should 'think
twice if they are looking for a job'
People who are looking for work should think twice about
getting tattoos because many people assume those who
have them are 'thugs and druggies', a study has claimed.
Managers in many industries still view tattoos as tattoo
and would worry about hiring someone who had the
designs on show because of what customers might think,
it said.
University of St Andrews researchers found stigma still
surrounds tattoos despite their increasing popularity
among celebrities and wider sections of society.
Management expert Dr Andrew Timming, who led the
research, explained that while he personally liked tattoos,
many of the professionals he interviewed who are
responsible for hiring new staff thought otherwise.
He said: 'Most respondents agreed that visible tattoos are
a stigma.
'Hiring managers realize that, ultimately, it does not
matter what they think of tattoos - what really matters,
instead, is how customers might perceive employees with
visible tattoos.
Employees have also been told they must inform line
managers of their tattoos, or risk disciplinary action.
Dr Timming interviewed recruiters in 14 organizations
including a hotel, bank, city council, prison, university and
bookseller to get a broad view of their opinions on
tattoos.
A male manager said seeing a tattoo would
'subconsciously stop' him hiring the applicant, while
another said 'tattoos are the first thing they [fellow
recruiters] talk about when the person has gone out of
the door.'
One woman manager simply said 'they make a person
look dirty', the British Sociological Association conference
on work, employment and society in Warwick was told.
Dr Timming explained: 'Respondents expressed concern
that visibly tattooed workers may be perceived by
customers to be abhorrent, repugnant, unsavory and
untidy.
'It was surmised that customers might project a negative
service experience based on stereotypes that tattooed
people are thugs and druggies.'
However, not all the managers were completely against
potential employees having tattoos, although of the ones
who didnt mind their line of work was not 'public facing'.
Dr Timming said: 'The one qualification to this argument
is there are certain industries in which tattoos may be a
desirable characteristic in a job interview.
'For example, an HR manager at a prison noted that
tattoos on guards can be something to talk about and
an in that you need to make a connection with the
prisoners.'
Do tattoos affect how people perceive you in the
workplace?
A not-for-profit a few years ago and one of the external
trustees came from a legal background. After retiring she
instantly went out and had some beautiful large pieces
tattooed on both her arms. She felt, in the time she was
practicing, that having tattoos would have impacted her
career. So that definitely echoes Pauls sentiments that,
although attitudes are changing, you may want to
consider the location and size of your pieces
But its not just tattoos: other body modification such as
facial piercings and non-standard hair colors can also
attract some mixed reactions. Sarah Twist from NHS
South Commissioning Support Unit doesn't have any
tattoos but she does have several piercings and brightly
colored hair (she currently has a full rainbow). I asked
Sarah how she felt about her appearance and whether it
had impacted how people view her in the workplace.
I think that there is a different perception of people with
alternative looks in the workplace. Personally, I think that
it makes me appear younger, which can be a good or a
bad thing.
I always feel more friendly towards a company who
allows me to make my appearance how I would like it. Its
also important to remember when considering
discrimination that an alternative appearance is still a
choice, and where appropriate, it is reasonable to ask for
changes to be made. If asked (especially for specific
events) I understand the desire to tone down my
appearance when representing the company and am
happy to appear more understated.
From my personal point of view, I have no problem with
keeping an open dialogue with people who have never
had any piercings and wouldn't know the first thing about
getting their hair from brown to blue and am always
happy to talk about my hair. For me, its just become
another talking point to start a conversation which
supports social relationships in the workplace.
Marketing Research concerning Tattoo
As we are aware of the fact that doing tattoo is an
unavoidable part of our world. Actually; a lot of people
living in the world prefer to do tattoos in order to be
attractive. As to our research and Net alike other
resources such as Wikipedia and other websites we can
easily infer out that our research is included three parts.
First part actually compromises of how people can do
tattoos in their body. It is a controversial topic to discuss
or not. Since some religion cant permit that doing tattoo
is not beneficial for people health; nevertheless; the other
people who do not believe and comply with the religion
commitment totally oppose this idea. Moreover, thanks to
this idea some people do their tattoos to be attractive.
Even though this can be beneficial for all of us that are
made the own research. Some researchers clearly
account for that doing tattoo is an inevitable part of our
world.
Based upon what we have been discussed above is that
people prefer to do tattoo in various places of their body.
So as to do this they have to pay a great amount of
money to get it. In our sentiment we have to do a deep
research concerning why people are so eager to do
tattoos in various places of their body.
Second issue that we would like to stress out is that we
have to do a more deep survey concerning marketing
research and it is relation to tattoo. No matter we know
that it is a fundamental part of our project, we have to
get an interaction with a lot of students educating not
only in universities but also foreign schools. By doing this,
we are more likely to have a massive chance to talk with
students. What is more, we would like to prepare some
questions with regard to the idea of tattoo and we would
like to ask some questions to students which are more
than 200. And this entails a lot of information to reach a
conclusion very easily. Whilst doing this, we have a huge
information to collect them.
Last but not least third issue that we would like to touch
upon is that we have to do a survey by collecting
samples. Thanks to doing this, we have to reach a
conclusion to make a negotiation between students.
Furthermore, this requires a lot of data. And when we
have a chance to do survey with students we gather a lot
opinion from them and also they have a giant knowledge
about tattoo.
Thanks to our survey, we also know that this is so
beneficial not only in our research but also marketing
research lecture. Anyhow people including students have
giant unconventional ideas regarding tattoo, we have to
get some different ideas, because this is a survey and it
includes lots of different issues and ideas.
To conclude that these are the steps that we have to do in
our marketing research. Doing and managing into survey
contribute us to reach a conclusion in our project.
Source: Dr.andrew Timming (senior level professor) in management at university of St.
Andrews.
He is an expert on the role of physical appearance in employee selection
Aniruddha Patil
B.Eralp Inceoglu
Sandeep Menon
Saurabh Parmar
Zaid Khalid
Shihab
