Baldness and employment

[Phantom]

Hey all,

I have a question about baldness and employment. I'm in the middle of a career change, as well as a move to New York City. My sister, who lives there, tells me I need to grow my hair out, as my shaved skull will impact my employment status in a negative way. I've also been hearing this from a friend and the rest of my family.

I guess I'm wondering if this is mantra is total bs, or if it might be true in any sense. I like shaving my head, and I would prefer to have this option open to me. I've never lived in a big city, however, and I have no idea what to expect. I will say, that I have had skinhead/political comments aimed at me in the past, but I figured that was because I lived in a smaller town. I'm not a fascist/neo-nazi, of course, so it's kind of annoying.

[shavedslick123]

Hey bud, I am in the same boat. Due to the economy, I was forced to close my floor covering business in November. Things are rough in Tennessee, I don't know about the rest of the country.... pickings are slim. I have had several interviews but can't seem to get my foot in the door. I am beginning to wonder if it is due to appearance. I love my shaved head, and am confident about it, so lack of confidence would not be an issue, I wouldn't think. Geographically, I am sure there would be difference in perception about the old noggin. Good luck to you.

[mojim]

I think it exudes more confidence then MPB does, however if you can grow a full head it might be better to go on interviews that way and then shave later..
Bottom line is to go into an interview dressed appropriately and with confidence in yourself..

[Marz]

I think the line of business your in would determine alot more about this.

I am a firm believer that a clean, well dressed, well groomed and professional appearance is key, the state of your hair (or lack thereof) should be pretty moot if the rest of your game is in good repair.

Personally, I have never been in a hiring / interview situation that hair was a factor on a well dressed / well groomed professional was even brought up in reviewing applicants.

[ChallengeMe]

I would agree that a shaved head will give a guy more confidence and we look better. But asking that question here will not help answer the question. I suspect we will all be very biased with the answer. You need to talk to people who work in human resource departments at very companies.

[JasonR]

Do you shave because you're balding?

Even if you aren't I do not think that shaving your head SHOULD affect your the ability to be hired. Like others mentioned, if everything else is in order the status of your hair should be the last thing on an employer's mind.

Some people will view individuals with completely shaven skulls as "skin-heads" or the like. In fact, I've been teased and called a Skinhead at a good friend's wedding of mine. It was all in good fun, however the implication is still there. Shaving heads completely bare is a relatively new thing; it will take time for some to accept it. I think it looks great and find that many men look great with shaved heads, and ALL men look better with shaved hears if they are balding.

I've been called all sorts of things. Hell, I've been called Mr. Clean before (minus the grey eyebrows!). I think it's my greatest compliment.

I think your sister is absolutely wrong. Rock the baldness.

[Phantom]

Hi all,

Thanks for the advice and best wishes. I guess I'll try to find somebody in an HR position and ask him/her. I guess I'm worried because I'm moving from a blue-collar environment to a white-collar environment (accounting), and I'm not sure what to expect.

Jason, I'm not sure if I'm balding or not, if I am, it's not noticable yet, probably have a "mature" hairline or a Norwood/Hamilton Scale of 2. I really like the feeling; there's no itchiness, no worrying about how it looks, and I think it's a look that translates well to any scenario. It works with a suit, for lounging around or going bar hopping, or at least I think it looks good in any scenario... My family hates that I shave, so it could just be a ploy on their part to get me to grow my hair out.

[skinhead002]

To the orig. poster, yake a look at the evening buisness news with the camera pans the floor of the NY Stock Exchange or the Chicago Merc. There a LOT of crewcuts and slick heads down in the trading pits.

I worked in business for a number of years after leaving active duty, wore suits and NEVER had an issue with being completely bald.  On occasion, I did have some problems with customers who found out that I was connected with the military and told me they had issues with conservatives and the military(no kidding-really happened). I was mistaken a couple of times for an FBI agent.

One observation from my experience(and i know many here will disagree) is that in formal business, goatees and beards, and ear rings on men generally dont cut it .  Thats something that you might want to feel out with an employer after you're hired. The business world is a lot like the old military: it has rules, customs, and traditions.  Fr example, NEVER wear a short sleeved dress shirt with a tie...

[jusbnme]

I've wondered this myself from time to time because I was looking for a new job over a period of 2 years.  I would get the jobs I set out to get with no problem.  I think mainly because of my clean cut appearance, professional clothing, and confidence.  I haven't seen a problem personally but that doesn't mean the thought isn't out there.  I've talked with my mom and her close friend who are both in HR and in charge of hiring for their company.  They have mentioned to me before that it's just human nature and they do have personal opinions about certain people that come in for interviews.  It's not that they have anything against a certain sex, race, etc...It's just that an appearance can give off a big first impression and if it's not within "the norm" than it can throw people off at first.  But my mom has also said that once she gets to know the person interviewing as long as their personality is great the initial thought she had about looks goes out the door. 

[Tyro]

What about a dude that walks in for an interview with a very noticeable comb-over?  That guy's chances of being hired would be far worse than a headshaver. Comb-over = very insecure. Headshaved + bald =
confidence + success . 

[skinhead002]

Good point.

[Cam]

Being a headshaver is not looked at like it used to be. It's no longer extreme to shave your head. People are getting more and more used to it, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. The most recent job that I got, I got hired over the phone ,so there was no in person interview. That was one of the things I worried about, that maybe my new boss would ask me to grow my hair out, or shave my gotee off, neither of which I am willing to do. When I show up at his house/office, he comes to the door... BALD with a gotee. His first words too me were "Nice haircut". It was classic awesome.


So yeah, I just babbled a lot, but the point is.. don't worry about it. I don't think most people look that far into it now.

[Robmeister]

I think it exudes more confidence then MPB does, however if you can grow a full head it might be better to go on interviews that way and then shave later..
Bottom line is to go into an interview dressed appropriately and with confidence in yourself..

I have wrestled MIGHTILY with this in the last couple months.  

I am BBC and have pretty full coverage.  I wrote to the mods confessing that I had "chickened out" in regard to my recent interview process and had grown my hair back just a bit (like a "high & tight").   I had to think long and hard about my particular situation.  Turns out I made the right decision.

After a bit of a hiatus (like ALL of 2007)---during which I got into noggin scraping---I'm back in the stuffed-shirt, high-profile retirement planning corporate world.  That's a GOOD thing...I love where I work.  However, being on the front line of working directly with clients, I had to, and have to be careful since I work with a lot of older, old-school folk. 

We need to be careful about anything, image-wise, that might cause what we call "background noise."  We have one rep in our office who dresses.....let's just say...."progressively" and has a fairly interesting hair-do to match.  Nothing freakish, mind you....just a stretch beyond yer conventional business look.  He was in contact by phone with a high-profile, older client and things were going fine.  When they met in person, the client contacted management and asked that his case be transferred to another associate.

Now that's not an everyday problem, but--bottom line--the dude lost out on a big client by being committed to his "progressive" image.

So if you don't mind the possibility of losing some business by being committed to a certain image, that's up to the individual.  While management personally doesn't care, they discourage (notice I didn't say "forbid") anything that might cause distracting "background noise" for the more conservative clientele.

The question arises, “Well, what about those that are MPB?”  The protocol there is keep it neatly clipped and avoid the combover.  A bad combover (or bad toupe) could cause “background noise” for the younger middle-age clientele.

The bottom line is that, while head shaving is indeed becoming more and more mainstream--and my personal preferrence, unfortunately it's still not a slam dunk in some circles of endeavor.

[Phantom]

It seems as though I'm getting a lot of different answers to my question, both with those I have spoken to online as well as in person. I really, really like shaving. I don't want to give it up.

Skinhead, thanks for the personal account. I guess I always just assumed that head shaving was a neat, crisp look and most employers would like that, and I think your post sort of fit in with my perceptions. I don't have any piercings, tattoos, or anything like that. I think I look pretty clean cut, but I am bothered at times, because every once in a while a teenager will throw a Nazi salute my way, jest or not, it's not something I care for. I guess I worry about that sort of assumption, more than anything else.

[nomad]

I really don't think in this day and age there is a problem with it. The company I do work for has alot of store level management and home office higher ups that are sly. It is one of the largest home centers in the world.