The New York Nexus Cafe 

I thought of this while I was taking off the bandaid that was covering my tiny tattoo on the inside of my ankle. I always cover it up before a job interview........had one yesterday.

Does anyone else do anything special before a job interview?

What do the people with visible piercing do? Do you remove them before an interview?

I play a theme song in my head. Something like Ally McBeal. But, only in my head, anything louder or visible, and peopl look at you strangely.

I keep my eyebrow ring in. I took all my earings out b.c. but if you could I wouldn't hide them. but then again I'm not looking for corporate / sales type jobs where this sort of stuff would matter. if it did I'd cut my hair and shave off my stupid sideburns ( well I probably should do that anyway! )

I guess if I thought taking the eyebrow ring out would make or brake an interview Id take it out I guess.

if you get this job would you have to cover the tattoo every day? eventually they'd find out. what then, fire you based on a tiny tattoo on your ankle???

Paul, don't change anything......you look good & you're an Artist, so it's a good look..... I was just asking the question.

I only hide the tattoo & the long hair for the interviews, the first week or two of a new job, and for important meetings. In the corporate world, there is still a typicle stereotype of what is professional......which, I think, is why a lot of women cut off their beautiful long hair and get those short haircuts.

sounds like another survey post, why guys dig girls w/ long hair over short hair, these women in this class I take were asking me ( the only guy in the class ) why guys prefer long hair. for me long, short, it's all good but depends on the cut, etc. ok I'm rambling here.

but is the corporate world really THAT anal about small things like hair lenght and a tattoo that noone ever sees? I can understand a mohawk or facial piercings not going over big in a client meeting but are people that stuffy? I guess it took this long for casual fridays to catch on, and even those are dressed up compared to some office environments like where I used to work

I work in the Fashion Industry. When I used to work on the Retail side of things, there was a written and enforced dress code. To me, it makes sense because we were selling to the public(mainly Corporate Women) & needed to present a certain imagine.

2-3 years ago, the financial companies started going "Business casual". You would not believe how many women needed help defining this. I even helped write the dress code for one company and recommended certain fashion magazines for others. We helped a lot of people re-evaluate their wardrobes that year. People in finance are so used to putting on that suit in the morning, that they didn't know how to dress any other way. Some thought "casual" meant jeans.

On hair- I feel that professional women still have peer-pressure by other women or higher ups(it's usually not spoken) to cut their hair. I can think of two examples of different girls starting out with beautiful longish hair & getting it cut shorter & shorter. One even commented that she hated it, but her Mother said it looked more "Professional". I guess since it is "a Man's World", we have to resemble a man as best as we can, to move up the ladder(in certain Industries)"! I refuse to give in.....that's why I hide it in the beginning of a new job. When I let my hair down...I feel some tension (did you see that Ally McBeal episode when Nel let her hair down?, but also get compliments. Some women say, "I just don't have time to mess with it" & some just think that they look better with short hair.

On women having to wear pantyhose to work in the summer- When will this be put to an end?! The Manhattan Saks Fifth Avenue finally came up with a Updated summer dress code that included no pantyhose from Memorial Day to Labor Day that was extended one year(thru Sept.) b/c it was so hot. Other Retailers were so jealous(& some appalled) that we didn't have to wear stockings.

Now, I'm on the Wholesale Merchandising side of things where the wardrobing is a little more versatile & liberal, depending on what I'm doing that day.

paulg said on 6/13/2002 12:52 AM

>sounds like another survey post, why guys dig girls w/ long hair over short hair, these women in this class I take were asking me ( the only guy in the class ) why guys prefer long hair. for me long, short, it's all good but depends on the cut, etc. ok I'm rambling here.
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>but is the corporate world really THAT anal about small things like hair lenght and a tattoo that noone ever sees? I can understand a mohawk or facial piercings not going over big in a client meeting but are people that stuffy? I guess it took this long for casual fridays to catch on, and even those are dressed up compared to some office environments like where I used to work
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it's all crazy to me, guess it is harder for women then men. ( btw, most women I know rule the workforce and make more $$$ then the men )

since I was a 'behind the scenes guy' ( photo editor/photo art director ) it was kinda wear whatevr you wanted. the only time everyone in my office would dress up was for the christmas party

Hey, I like this thread :)

When I considered interviewing, the one thing I thought could be an issue was my ever-changing purple hair streaks

I work at a small non-public [not private either, but that's not the topic here] school - people have to be covered [=no midriff shirts and short-shorts in the summer, no profanity on T-shirts], no dangling jewelry for safety reasons, able to run after a kid=comfortable enough shoes to do that safely, dressed up a little more if they are 1:1 with a kid in a mainstream=regular school setting where it is customary to dress up more-no jeans, etc. there
some people dress up more than others, some brave souls wear white on occasion [which I would mess up no matter where I would work!], nobody habitually wears silk-type stuff
Some of the people have tattoos and piercings

I was at a conference recently and someone from a different school said that they have a professional-casual code [no printed T-shirts and jeans, dockers-type pants ok] and they do a fundraiser casual Friday - pay $2 and the money goes to get stuff for the school - creative, I have never heard of anyone doing that before

I think it's that initial impression that is most important in the interview. If you get the job you can start to wear whatever as soon as you feel comfortable.
I used to work in a completely casual environment, and we all came to our interviews dressed in business clothes.