Do employers discriminate against tattooed/pierced job applicants?
GLASS:I have a friend in his late 20s who has an earring in each ear. He has a master’s degree and a good job history. He went recently to interview for a job with a financial company. He was recommended by someone high up in the company and that’s how he got the job interview. He thought the interview went well and he wrote them a thank you note. He did all the things you’re supposed to do, but he didn’t get a call back from them. Finally, someone from the company called him to say that they had found someone else. The person he knew there said the reason he didn’t get the job was because of the piercings. But obviously, that can’t be said directly to him because it would be illegal. In his job he’d have to work directly with the public and it wasn’t acceptable. Her suggestion: take the earrings out if he applied for another job there. He decided that he didn’t want the job bad enough to do that. Interns and other people in job training programs that are just entering the work force a
