“Don’t you worry about getting a ‘real’ job with tattoos?”
No, no I don’t.
Tattoos are becoming more and more acceptable these days, which is great. Granted, I don’t have tattoos on my face or hands, which is an entirely different can of worms in terms of visibility, but I do still have tattoos that can show in various pieces of business attire. When I first started getting them, the first thing I remember my friends and family telling me were things like, “Be careful and don’t get too many, or else you’ll lose out on job opportunities,” and "That's all people are going to look at when you go in for job interviews." Well, I’m here to say that I regret none of my tattoos and neither should you.
Tattoos weren’t as widely accepted decades ago, and yes, there still is slight hesitation now. But I’ve noticed that more and more employers are sound with hiring people that do have tattoos. And often times, most tattoos can be covered with various clothing items (a suit, dress shirt, slacks, etc.). Long gone are the days of worrying about tattoos hindering your job search. I have five tattoos all over, ranging from the nape of my neck to my arm to my ribs, and they have never gotten in the way of me being hired. They're nothing huge or wide-scale, like a full sleeve, but they're still tattoos. Some jobs make a bigger deal out of visible tattoos than others, but there is always a way to figure out how to get the job even with your permanent ink. Whether your job requires you to cover your tattoos with makeup or clothing or maybe your job’s only requisite for employment is that they aren’t considered “offensive,” you can always find a way to wear your artwork with pride.
I think it's amazing that more and more people are getting "tatted" now than ever, and you really can't classify people with tattoos as non-hireable anymore. Nowadays you can look at a man or woman and see them covered in ink and have no idea whether they're a CEO or bartender or tattoo artist, and I think that that is truly amazing. The stigma of tattooed people being unprofessional really doesn't exist anymore, not that that would alter most tattooed people's decision to get the ink in the first place. But for those of us that have tattoos or are considering getting one, not getting a job because of it isn't really something you should bother worrying about. The only thing you should think about is whether or not you like the artwork enough to commit to it for the rest of your life.
So, whether you consider a "real" job to be an accountant or a server or a school teacher, take pride in knowing that your unique artwork is most likely never going to be a topic of why you weren't hired, but rather a topic of conversation in the break room with your other tattooed and non-tattooed co-workers.
