About 96,000 tattoos were removed in 2014, for the most part, in order to secure a job. And despite a rise in popularity for tattoos, a study by Pew Research Center surveying nearly 2,700 people found that 76 percent felt that tattoos and piercings could hurt a job applicant.
Visible and offensive tattoos can obviously change the way you and your company are perceived, but most of us looking for jobs don’t have gang signs on our bodies. We have art! Tattoos are a way more and more people are expressing themselves, yet the stigma around them in the workplace seems to remain strong.
And despite our parents’ generation still warning us on consequences of our body art, many companies and industries have developed a more lenient attitude towards tattoos. Here are some surprising jobs you can still get even with a full sleeve.
Before photo editing software, a model with tattoos wouldn’t go anywhere. Now, however, technology has the ability to remove any blemish in any photograph, letting even supermodels like Heidi Klum, Gisele Bundchen, and Kate Moss get tattoos. However, photoshop takes time and money, and modeling agencies will only remove your tattoos if you, as a model, are worth it. If you are thinking about starting a career in commercial modeling, it’s still best to have minimal tattoos.
Despite previously banning tattooed individuals from joining the military, it is now the job industry with the highest percentage of tattoos, 36%, according to an infographic by Skinfo. Face, neck, and offensive tattoos are still prohibited, however.
One of the most progressive and entrepreneurial companies, of course Google has a cool perspective on tattoos. One google employee, Adrian Scoica, writes, “nobody cares about your tattoos. People care about your code and ideas.”
This web hosting company’s policy is “thrift shop chic or tattoos and a Mohawk – they’re all welcome here.”
It may be for children, but this company loves people with style and will hire you as long as your body art is trendy and unoffensive.
It’s important to remember that tattoos are permanent and say a lot about your character, so continue to choose your body art carefully even if times are changing.
You can bet that your coworkers and maybe even your boss will ask about the significance behind a visible tattoo so make sure you’ve got a respectable answer. You don’t want to have to tell them there’s no reason you got that portrait of Bart Simpson or that you really regret getting Chad’s name on your wrist because those choices do reflect your person and you don’t want to seem stupid.
If anything, get your body art in places where your clothing and hair can cover it up – be an undercover badass. If you have any suggestions about tattoos at work, or know of a company who supports body art, let us know on Twitter @entity_mag or comment below!
