I Rejected a Finalist Because of Tattoos

[Anonymous]

Outside Hire. EVP. Terminal Degree Required. Role paid 320k salary, ~100 bonus every year, full medical, no deductible, 401 matching to 6%, 5 weeks PTO- really, as much time 'off' as you need, just be reachable by call and you could pretty much live on vacation.

Search was 4 months long. Interviewed 18, narrowed to 2.

Second round of interviews today was a lunch. Candidate took off his coat and I saw that he had a bunch of trashy mid- aughts/late 90s tattoos like barb wire, flames, scrawled names.

The second I saw that I mentally removed him from the position and just settled into a nice lunch.

Just an observation I thought some of you all might want to know about.

[Anonymous]

I detest tattoos, and would have sternly told myself to not take them into account when making a hiring decision.

So I find your smugness to lean into your unfair discrimination quite disgusting, OP.

[Anonymous]

So you judged a book by its cover. Cool. Thanks for telling us how shallow you are.

[Anonymous]

Are you J1 J2 guy?

[Anonymous]

You’re only screwing yourself if he was the better hire.

[Anonymous]

If he was the better candidate, this seems kind of ridiculous. If he wasn't the better candidate, then did his tattoos really matter? I dislike those style tattoos but care more about my company and would hire the person who I thought would do a better job.

I'm also curious what your age is. I'm 39 and tattoos definitely seem more accepted with my age range.

[Anonymous]

It's winter and he's interviewing for a job, so where were these tattoos? Upper neck or knuckles? Because otherwise they wouldn't be visible.

Unless you're a troll.

[Anonymous]

Are you going to be honest with him about why you went with the other person? He can’t sue you.

He’ll be happy he dodged the bullet.

[Anonymous]

Very unprofessional of you.

[Anonymous]

Not a flex, and likely your loss.

[Anonymous]

I’d have to get to know someone first. Some people’s tattoos are nothing more than regrettable youthful indiscretions.

For others, it’s usually a case of expressive individualism, which is epidemic in our society.

[Anonymous]

The only places I've worked that had rules about visible tattoos were retail places.

I'm a lawyer today, I don't have tattoos, but a lot of my colleagues do. If I was advising someone who wanted to go into my field: avoid face and neck tattoos and keep them tasteful, but otherwise, no one cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's winter and he's interviewing for a job, so where were these tattoos? Upper neck or knuckles? Because otherwise they wouldn't be visible.

Unless you're a troll.

You think?

[Anonymous]

You should have been in a suit or at least nice dress shirt to cover them.

[Anonymous]

I do not believe for one moment that you're this uptight about tattoos but fine with people working from anywhere.