A woman complained on TikTok that she was not hired because of her tattoos. The post went viral and became a topic of debate

Ash Putnam said in a clip posted on TikTok that she was angry and frustrated after a chain of clothing stores did not hire her, assuming it was because of her tattoos.

She has many tattoos and some of them are also visible when she is clothed, such as a horned skull on her neck, intense black designs on her arms and one on her forehead. Putnam, 23, also has several facial piercings, including a large ring dangling from her septum.

“I hate that my tattoos are such a defining factor for me when it comes to getting a job. Just because I have tattoos doesn’t mean I won’t be a good employee”she said on TikTok, according to Business Insider.

Putnam, of California, said she went into the store to ask why she didn’t get the job, and the manager told her she didn’t have enough experience. The manager denied that her tattoos played any role in the decision.

But she wasn’t convinced and took to TikTok to complain. Many commentators argued that her attitude was to blame, not the tattoos. Others, however, think he went a bit overboard with the drawings.

Several experts told Business Insider that a candidate’s personality is probably more important to recruiters.

Putnam’s story went viral

The video Putnam posted has garnered 7.4 million views and countless comments. “HR Supervisor…No company would put you in front of clients”, someone commented. Others confirmed that what she assumed was true and told her that she didn’t get the job because of her facial piercings and tattoos.

Other content creators criticized Putnam’s approach.

Ivy Johnson, who also has many tattoos, said she worked in corporate America, holding managerial positions, before starting her own business. “Your tattoos are very aggressive. In jobs where you work with clients, it doesn’t work like that”she told him.

Johnson also said she thinks Putnam has “a very wrong attitude.” “If you had come into my company for an interview or talked on the phone, even if I didn’t even know you were heavily tattooed, I would have turned you down”she said.

Tattoo fashion and the impact it has

Nearly a third — 32 percent — of people in the U.S. have a tattoo, and 22 percent have more than one, according to the Pew Research Center.

Some studies have suggested that tattoos can affect career advancement. In a 2018 LinkedIn survey, 40% of respondents said they rejected a candidate because of a visible tattoo. 88% of recruiters and HR professionals who took part in the survey said they felt tattoos limited a candidate’s prospects.

However, a study conducted at the University of Miami in the same year says that tattooed people are just as likely to be hired as those without tattoos.

The stigma of tattoos is gradually diminishing, and many employers no longer have any qualms about hiring staff with tattoos, according to Indeed.

There is a limit, however, and some of Putnam’s followers say she has crossed it. But she is stubborn: “I won’t change who I am for minimum wage jobs”.

Adam Collins, founder and CEO of Ignite SEO, told the source that as someone who has hired people for his company, he believes that “tattoos can have a big impact on how a candidate is perceived“.

“I wouldn’t say tattoos matter in an interview, but it depends on the position”he said. “A candidate applying to be an account manager for our clients and would be speaking directly to them and as such would need to have a certain demeanor that inspires confidence, so face and neck tattoos would have a negative impactAdam said.

On the other hand, for a person who doesn’t work directly with customers, appearance is less important, he added. “In technical and operational positions, for example, it doesn’t matter”he specified.

Michelle Enjoli, recruiter, said visibility and type of tattoos matter a lot. “Tattoos are personal and usually mean something to that person. People represent companies, and so if a tattoo represents something that a company would not want to be associated with, it can definitely be an issue in hiring.” she said.

A tattoo could determine the course of an interview if it is very visible and depending on what it represents.

In Putnam’s case, her tattoos were considered extreme, Enjoli said, and “they seem to be representative of her identity”. “In other cases, where someone has a smaller tattoo on their arm, it might not matter as much”she said.

“I think a company that requires an employee to have no tattoos regardless of visibility or meaning is definitely outdated because they have become such an important part of modern culture“, Enjoli also specified.

Personality matters more

Justina Raskauskiene, who leads the HR team at Omnisend, said that as tattoos have become so popular, it’s very likely that recruiters and managers barely pay attention to them, “unless they are offensive or distracting.”

“Sometimes managers may prefer an employee with a tattoo if it can be evidence of an interesting personality”she said.

Rachel Pelta, editor-in-chief of Forage, says that managers generally look at talents and skills, and if a candidate has those, then potential tattoos may be overlooked.

Regarding tattoos, piercings, or anything else that might be considered unusual, such as garish hair colors, managers “should not judge a candidate by his appearance“, Pelta added.

But some companies are traditional or conservative, and for them these things might be unthinkable, even in the US.

“If you’re not willing to cover or remove them, you’ll have to keep looking until you find a company that will accept you. And they are, but it may take a while to find”she also said.

Publisher: DC

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