Baldness and employment

[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..

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.

Very well stated!! I went Sly when I was already employed...If I had to get back out in the job market, I am not sure what I would do...I mean I have MPB, so would it be better looking like that....Tough question, but your answer was very good...

[skiking]

I wouldn't think it would be a problem if you have a professional image and are well qualified for the job.  I have worked for an engineering firm for the last 2 years and there are several sly guys there, and they are the best engineers in the company.
If you look good are well qualified and don't get the job because you have a shaved head, do you want to work for them anyways?

[Robmeister]

....Tough question, but your answer was very good...

Well, thanks....the "stuff" I brought up is a touchy thing to "advance" around here without folks getting uncomfortable.   

I wouldn't think it would be a problem if you have a professional image and are well qualified for the job.

That's why I mentioned MY particular situation is not speculative...not theorized.  I would go even FURTHER to say that a shiny, well-kept shaved head AND a pierced ear with a small, unassuming diamond stud looks good in a nice professional suit and shouldn't take away from the fact that someone is well qualified for a particular position. 

But for certain people that tiny 2-millimeter-in-diameter, barely-visible "thing" in yer ear lobe makes a "statement" they're not sure how to "interpret," and could cause "background noise" in a situation you may not want it to......same thing with headshaving....albeit in fewer and fewer...and ever diminishing circumstances, thankfully.

Hence, my granting that, while in 99.9999% of situations probably don't pose a problem these days in corporate circles, there's still a little way ta go before it's a 100% slam dunk in every and any situation.

If it WAS a 100% slam dunk in any and all corporate situations......a foregone conclusion not warranting any concern or consideration in ANY employment circles....then there wouldn't be questions arising in threads like this.   This is probably the 3rd or 4th thread on this subject......not to mention the threads on "Reactions From Family.....Friends....Kids....(etc...)"

If there wasn't some sort of awesome uniqueness and individuality......even edginess to being SLY, this website wouldn't mean any more than starting a website for men who part their hair on the right instead of the left.......***YAWN***

[schro]

In theory, if you do your job well it really shouldn't matter what you're appearance is.
Sadly, theory isn't always reality. Carrying yourself in a professional manner, treating others with respect, and doing your job to the best of your abilities should be enough. It's funny, you can tie this question into a ton of other topics on this board. There are times people have posted their experiences of people being intimidated by their sly look, until they speak with them and find it's a nice guy that just happens to be bald. You can say the same things about different walks of life...

A nice guy that just happens to be gay
A nice guy that just happens to be black
A nice guy that just happens to be a Raider fan (had to throw that one in).

You could fill in the blanks for anything like this. It just goes back to generalizations that (frankly) are bullsh*t. I know some gays, blacks, democrats, republicans, jewish, catholics, that are extremely cool and I know some of the same that are some of the biggest jerks walking the face of this earth.

Good & Bad Eggs come from all walks of life.

Sorry for the Sunday Morning Sermon. The events of the past week have been thought provoking for this humbled snob.

[Razor X]

My two cents:  as others have said, appearance does matter on job interviews and in the workplace.  But by and large, a shaved head is considered to be pretty mainstream these days.  Schro, SlyInKC and I are in what is arguably one of the most conservative professions and it hasn't been a problem for any of us, nor has it been a problem for countless others.

That being said, you never know what kind of prejudices you're going to run into based on your appearance.  Job interviewers will judge you on your height, weight, tone of voice, any number of things.  In an ideal world, none of these things should matter, but the truth is we're all affected by other people's biases.

In this day and age, someone who has a shaved head,  is well dressed and behaves professionally shouldn't have any problem the vast majority of the time. Anyone who discriminates against someone with a shaved head is probably just biased against bald heads,whether they are shaved or just MPB.  Visible piercings and tattoos are still considered taboos in most professional environments, but I really wouldn't worry about the shaved head at all.

[Robmeister]

YEP !!!

yer both gorgeous, by the way, and I love yas....humbled snobbery and all