Dear Future Employer,

I know when I come for an interview you look at me, well not really at me. Your eyes will go right to the tattoo of a cross on my wrist, and the small gold hoop in my nose. I will feel my heart sink when you don’t look away from them because I know what you’re thinking. These things that I have done to my body label me as “unprofessional.”

You think that I simply cannot perform a task because I have ink on my skin. I am uneducated because of the ring on my nose. Future employer, I am sorry to tell you that what I have done has nothing to do with my work ethic, it does not determine my level of intelligence, or the ideas that I have in my head that can help your company. A nose ring does not mean that I will be rude to customers, or that I will have a bad attitude toward my colleagues. I have not spent the last seven years of school and tens of thousands of dollars to become an engineer, because I am an “uneducated” and “lazy” individual. Getting my degree and having the grades that I received should prove that to you. Remarks from my past employers, and past internships should help you make your decision not a mark on my wrist.

My tattoos do not make me a punk, I am not a gang member or a piece of trash. You see me before you wearing clean and pressed dress pants and a blazer, so tell me if my tattoo was covered and my nose ring removed would I be a good choice for your company in your eyes? I understand, Future Employer, that if you hire me I represent you and your business, but I am also representing myself. I come to this interview clean and neat, looking professional. You were most likely raised with the old stereotypes about people with tattoos and piercings, but this is a new generation. I am here to prove to you that I am as good a candidate as anyone else who walks through this door.

Now, Employer, this is obviously your decision to make, but keep in mind that a piercing does not define me. The way I carry myself, my attitude, and my resume project the real me. Do not make your choice based on one aspect of me, I am a rounded person one thing does not define how I will act in a professional setting or how I will represent your business.