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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder is a visible tattoo will really ruin my career chances?

50 replies

superstarheartbreaker · 06/10/2013 23:49

I a tattoo on my hip and I would like to have another one. I work in education and I am applying for teaching jobs. I am thinking of getting a snow leopard on my shoulder. Ok , so not too visible but is it a risk? Do employers discriminate agains tattoos? I read in the news that they do. Not the mail btw!

OP posts:

Pendeen · 07/10/2013 16:36

I must be a very "low octane" architect then!

Such ostentatious (and tacky) displays are never going to be part of my appearance n front of clients. :)

lisad123everybodydancenow · 07/10/2013 16:48

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Beastofburden · 07/10/2013 18:05

Well I was trying to find a polite way to say very, very camp.....

aroomofherown · 07/10/2013 18:08

I commented (positively) on a teaching colleague's tatto this afternoon. It was on her forearm.

I have two small ones - ankle and wrist. Never been a problem, even in a school that didn't permit staff to show tattoos.

pinkyredrose · 07/10/2013 18:10

pendeen well good for you. Judgemental much?

fifi669 · 07/10/2013 18:44

My workplace doesn't allow visible tattoos. I do however have one on my wrist and did so at interview, I pointed it out when I read the employee manual. They jokingly said I'd best collect my stuff...

I think such policies are to deter the more outrageous, in your face (or on your face) tattoos bit generally no one cares

KatyPutTheCuttleOn · 07/10/2013 18:47

I think it'd be better to cover up to be honest, but it all depends. There is a teacher I know who has tattoos all down both arms and he always wears a long sleeved shirt.

sparklekitty · 07/10/2013 18:53

I'm a primary school teacher and have 2 visible tattoos, one on my wrist and one on my foot (only visible in the summer really). My wrist one is on show pretty much all the time.

The kids ask, I show them and tell the story behind it. I also make sure I tell them only grown ups can have them coz they don't rub off. Most of them then tell me all about their parents ones (often massive portraits of them on various appendages!)

quoteunquote · 07/10/2013 18:58

The last operation I had, my surgeon had a tattoo on her hand, she did a great job of chopping bits off me, didn't seem to hold her back.

McSmoke · 07/10/2013 18:59

Lots of the teachers at my girls' school have small wrist or ankle tats. One lady even has a full sleeve tatoo, and no one has ever complained to the school(I know as I am a Governors).

Goldenbear · 07/10/2013 19:18

The company my DP works for is both international and Is owned by probably one of the uk's most famous designers. His impression is that this man's career progression will be limited as a result.

It is not practical to cover your arms all of the time as in when it is hot. This is how they found out he has tattoos as he is sitting at his desk with sleeveless tops. Clients obviously visit the office but at the moment he is not really in contact with them. It hasn't occurred to him that they are a problem so he why would he cover them up?

deste · 07/10/2013 19:27

My DD us also a teacher and has one on her wrist and one on her foot. She was offered every job she went for including one at a private school. She was the first one on her course to be offered a job.

Goldenbear · 07/10/2013 19:32

I bet it wasn't Eaton College?

maddy68 · 07/10/2013 19:44

I am slt in a secondary school. We do not allow anyone with a visible tattoo. We have a strict dress code , no piercings other one pair of stud earrings etc

You are a role model and a professional who is dealing with young people, parents and visitors

I am not anti tattoo, I have one myself but the students would never know as it's not visible

bebopanddoowop · 07/10/2013 19:51

Both my husband and I are tattooed and he works in an office and always wears a dark coloured long sleeve shirt to cover his which although can get hot, is smart so appropriate. I work from home so is not a problem but when I briefly worked in a school I wore my hair down, dark tights and long sleeves to cover them. I was never told I had to but I did out of respect - they are personal and not to everyone's taste. Now I have a job where it doesn't matter if I'm tattooed (in art industry) so I don't get so hot covered up in the summer!

If you are getting your shoulder done measure where your hemlines go so that it doesn't show. It will cause more hassle than it's worth otherwise.

Good luck

Wuxiapian · 07/10/2013 20:35

As long as it's never on show, I don't see the problem.

lurkerspeaks · 07/10/2013 20:51

MY sister has lots of tattoos and is a teacher. Her work wardrobe is very carefully chosen (I didn't even know 140 denier tights existed) and I would be very surprised if any of the teenagers she teaches even know she has them.

In day to day life they are clearly visible but she hides them at work.

VikingVagine · 07/10/2013 21:01

I have several visible tattoos, a nose piercing and occasionally blue or pink hair. I'm a teacher, (in France though) and no one bats an eyelid any more .

Littlestgirlguide · 07/10/2013 21:03

My DD's reception teacher has a small tattoo on her wrist. It's not an issue as long as its discreet.

VikingVagine · 07/10/2013 21:07

Forgot to add that it hasn't hindered me at all, last time I was inspected I got the best possible report and promotion.

WorrySighWorrySigh · 07/10/2013 21:34

I used to work as a lifeguard so got to see an awful lot of body graffiti. Too many people seemed to have treated their bodies like a piece of old wall. Lots of random scribbling and no coherent style.

I havent yet seen great art in a tattoo. Mostly they just look like sub A level Art sketches. After a few years mostly they look like they have been done in blue biro.

Tattoos are a fashion. Unlike hair colour, most piercings, clothes etc, you are stuck with this fashion choice.

Pendeen · 08/10/2013 16:49

Thank you, pinkyredrose

jnl0612 · 08/10/2013 16:59

I work for a very large international company, (not in teaching) they have a no visible tattoo policy, so if you have any visible you have to cover them with plasters/bandages etc they have been known to turn people down for jobs because of neck / facial tattoos in the past

lljkk · 08/10/2013 17:06

Our local lifeguards have as many tats as the pool customers (which is to say, quite a lot).

I don't think colleagues will care but some parents might decide it's an excuse to have no respect.

Come to think of it, NO ONE at my work place has a visible tat.

BucketArse · 08/10/2013 17:07

If you ditched the snow leopard idea (Why? Just Why?!), and went with an excerpt from the new National Curriculum, you could flash it at interview as a selling point.

Until they change it again and you have to get it lasered.

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