to think that turning up to a job interview with waist-length hair (as a man)

[EdgarAllenSnow]

is tantamount to walking in and saying plainly 'I do not want the job?'

I ask because my brother, reasonably well qualified, reasonably charming though he is, has not cut his hair to get a job, and despite having several interviews, has had no offers. He attends interviews otherwise tidy, suited and booted and with his manly locks tied back in a pony tail.

My neighbour is in his late 20's, never has worked, ever, and frequently boasts that his long greasy hair and neck tattoos always "get him off" interviews.

My ExH used to boast that because of his long greasy hair and tattoos he wouldn't be sent for any old job, in fact hardly ANY jobs.

He owned one book in all the years I knew him and after years and years on disability / depression because his Dad died he is now studying sociology at a University. To avoid CSA for his three children.

His Mum thinks he will finish the course, leave and make a six figure salary as a "Sociologist", as you do

mp, sometimes religious people can have gravitas you know!

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest and I recruit all the time. If he is clean and well presented (and no reason to assume he wouldn't be) then I see no problem.

He only lacks gravitas if you're Judgey McJudgey. If he knows what he's talking about it doesn't - and shouldn't - matter. If they're working for me I want the professional, confident expert and not the person who understands the basics really well but looks very smart.

DS's fantabulous neurosurgeon had the most hideously scuffed, mucky and unpolished shoes I have ever seen on a man. He wore them every day - for 5 weeks while we were hospital inmates - and regularly at follow up appointments. He probably wore them to his job interview. Thank God nobody judged him on the basis of those!

heQuet,
luckily we work in a "media organisation" so no one is bothered really. Also, he's very good at his job, been there years. Everyone is very accepting. It's why I stay there...the people are very nice.
We have tea and battenburg cake in the afternoon.

We have had a few raised eyebrows from "visitors" but as he is so accepted by everyone on the staff they end up thinking they must be hallucinating and soon fall into step.

BTW my 50 year old boss thinks that if a woman has short hair she is a lesbian. I pointed out this was not entirely the case.
I have never found out his opinion of men with long hair...I'll save that for when we have eccles cakes.

OMG Milady, that website is unbelievable; have you seen it? The people writing on it are all psychotic freaks and should be committed to an asylum. Un-believable.

As a former head of pupillage at Chambers..

I used to throw cv's down the stairs and pick those that landed on the 4th step.

Though one year we did have a interesting names year and ended up with all the pupils being called Piers/Hephzibah/Priti/ Bobo and Morgenstrom.

Most law students do not have long hair though we were one of the more progressive sets and allowed red brick.

Look long hair is a CHOICE

so is wearing clown shoes

neither suitable for interviews in 99% of cases

SpeedyG sorry I didn't look at it, just pulled the picture from images.

this is very clever, has been going for years and does a great job of taking the piss out of religious loonies in the U.S and it truly is a joke although not every poster sees it that way.

being a small minded git is a choice too

one choses one prejudices,hair length etc.if one so inclined to numnuttedness

yes but I'm giving out the jobs

so my prejudices win

what jobs you offering?paper round

I need someone to wash my drive

you gotta have gravitas though

Wouldn't a jet washer be more useful?

"Look long hair is a CHOICE

so is wearing clown shoes

neither suitable for interviews in 99% of cases"

Only if the interviewer is, as I said, Judgey McJudgey!

If the employer REALLY wants the best candidate rather than a catalogue model then it should not matter. Yes a job is a job but if you are going to be judged on your appearance like that then maybe the company isn't such a great place to work. Depends how desperate you are I guess. But let's not forget, getting married and wanting to have babies is a choice so would you also say that newly married women are 99% unsuitable for interview?

YANBU, long hair on men, urgh.

But if he doesn't do corporate well, isn't he trying to shove a square peg into a round hole, shouldn't he go into an arty type career where he will a) be happy b) he can have long hair if he wants it ?

I'm bloody corporate!

He can work for me and be happy and have long hair - if he's the best candidate!! And I know I'm not the only manager in the corporate world like this!

My DH was the runner up in a long winded interview process recently because he didn't live in the area, the job was advertised with a £10k relocation package so you do wonder if employers are being incredibly fussy right now just because they can and it's actually nothing to do with his hair at all.

My friend's been made redundant so is about to jobhunt for the first time in a decade. I was wondering whether to suggest he cut his hair, but then saw him scrubbed up in his new interview suit, hair trimmed and slicked back, and figured he looked fantastic and it wouldn't be an issue.

Then I read all the judgemental comments here.

He seriously needs to grow up and conform if he wants work.. End of.

I keep thinking of those Armstrong and Miller sketches where a bloke turns round to reveal he has a ponytail and everyone starts retching

...and also of the crusty-type bloke who used to hang around my student union who had a very long fringe, and one night revealed why: he had 'SHITHEAD' tattooed on his forehead. Someone once asked him why he didn't work, and he said, matter-of-factly, 'It's quite difficult to get a job when you've got 'shithead' tattooed on your forehead.'

Obviously it shouldn't make a difference what someone looks like but, for some roles, particularly in non-former nationalised corporate environments it does.

Without wishing to also be accused of being judgey, I think that the public sector/education and companies like BT (who used to be public sector) are far more forgiving and likely to judge less on appearance (plus they have pretty stringent HR and Union policies). If you're going for interviews at other types of organisation ie private/shareholder owned companies then you are more likely to be recruited on the basis of fitting in with the image of the company.

If that image includes being treasured for your individuality then long hair wouldn't be an issue. Perhaps he needs to investigagte the comapny's culture before applying/attending interviews?

I can't believe that people still have this attitude towards men with long hair.

Are there any other fascist dictates that job seekers need to know about - should fatties bother turning up for interviews? What about gingers or people with bad teeth?

It should not make a difference but tbh having dated a man with long hair and knowing several others, my initial impression is always 'tosser' as well

I'm sure there are long haired blokes who are delightful

but I have never known one.

I think it is sometimes, (not always) something about 'making a point' or 'going against the grain' which drives the desire to have a pony tail when you are a man, and this is a really undesirable quality in many professions.

The one I dated had HUGE control issues, another bloke was suspicious about every aspect of 'normal' society, it tends to mark them out as anti-something and this is a common perception...though it is a stereotype and of course, not relevant to all long haired men. But you need a certain level of either strength and confidence or antagonism and bloody mindedness to carry off waist length hair.

take your pick!