new thread
Hi All,
You may or may not remember I am leaving my job at the end of October to begin a small business in computer repair/building.
As my search for a new part time job to sustain me during the business startup begins, I am thinking of adding a photo of myself in professional business atire, either on my resume or as an attachment that I can email with my resume to prospective job agencies & employers.
It would be a photo that subtly says I have neat long hair tied back in a professional ponytail, and if they don't like it they can choose not to contact me. It would not be a rub it in their faces type photo with my hair flying everywhere!
Has anyone tried this before and if so did it help screen out the long hair haters, thus avoiding a pointless interview that ended in you being told: "you can have the job if you cut your hair"
Comments appreciated!
MattT
There seems to be a lot of insecurity about getting work because of longhair, and you guys (many of you older than I am) seem to be really worried about it. I've been in the working world for just a meagre 7 years, fact - its self-confidence and the way your character comes across, not your appearance, which gets you the job.
If you are constantly worried that your longhair will preclude you from getting work, then this will affect your self-confidence which in turn will result in a poor interview.
I dunno if this will help, let me share it anyway...
There's one line which I find I use a lot when talking to employers/clients - actually I tend to build-up to it using a few anecdotes.
I start by talking a little about my ex-business partner, who only seemed to care about talking the big talk and securing a deal without ever really considering the details. I emphasise that I'm a person that can deal with details, that I care about the substance of the project and that I get under the skin of a problem, I attempt to fully understand the issues then I find a solution.
This is designed to compensate for the fact that outwardly I don't appear to care about the details too much, in so much as I'm a casual dresser and I have long hair.
After I think I've successfully laid the groundwork I come out with a self-mocking line like this:
"As you can see, I'm not someone who cares much about outward appearances... [pause for titter] [back to serious] I care about really getting the job done."
This is basically a lie, because I take great pride in my casual appearance and my long hair, but there is no-one who can disagree with this philosophy without appearing superficial, especially if in my case you are pitching for jobs that are in the B2B sector or not 'client-facing'. Its about effectively removing objections.
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My final top tip on finding work is that you shouldn't bother applying for advertised jobs, they are massively over-subscribed and your chances of getting them are relatively small. Instead you should approach companies looking for work, tell them what you can do for them, how you can make their business/productivity/whatever better, if they are impressed they'll make a job for you.
My previous post was more a general response to this "Long Hairs finding work theme" that seems to be running / recurring on the hyperboard, my advice to you though is to forget about finding a part-time job. Throw yourself into your new business completely.
Rather than apply for advertised part-time positions go out and pitch for work offering IT Support contracts to small businesses with 5-25 employees. Charge a flat monthly fee for call-outs and support, (only charge extra for parts). If you get a couple of those under your belt that can equal several hundred $/£/€ in your pocket before you start each month.
I recall you mentioning in a previous post that most companies in Australia model themselves after ultra conservative US companies. With that in mind, I would strongly advise you not to include a picture. Though the Internet and e-mailed resumes makes it very easy to include your picture with your resume, it would almost certainly keep you from getting a job. Here in the US, companies legally cannot consider your picture in determining if you are to be interviewed, or hired. This would be a violation of most Equal Opportunity Employment(EOE) laws. The vast majority of companies won't even consider a resume that is submitted with a picture, ensuring that they are in compliance with EOE, and cannot be accused of any viloation.
hi,
Generally it matters less and less what you put on your resume'. You can of course put things you _want_ people to know about. But hiding stuff is getting harder because companies are using the web to dig up information about applicants. If you have a photo that can be found in images.google.com you can be sure it will be looked at. Do some snooping on yourself. search all the google servers, web, images, etc. plus if you are on myspace, facebook, and all the other networking sites, those will be searched too. I just read in the paper yesterday that employers are going to myspace etc. and contacting applicants's "friends" to ask them questions in addition to the references on your resume'. Everyone is getting a bit of the kind of treatment some of us got years ago when we had to have a security clearance for a job and got a background investigation. Employers see anything out there that's accessible as fair game.
Not to make anyone paranoid, but in addition to considering your application, I recommend spending some time looking at how you appear on the web. Unfortunately, you may encounter some difficulty in getting rid of anything that you think is a liability.
Generally, many people, especially young people, are finding out that flip, stupid things they posted in college and secondary school are still out there waiting to be mined. Some of this content follows people around for years, decades even. The mistakes we made while learning to be adults should not cost us forever.
This is why I favor some sort of "sunset" law that applies to these internet archiving search engines, where for example, after five years, stored content gets deleted. but that's another topic.
Here are my three cents (inflation, okay?).
If you send a picture, the employer can immediately put you in the no pile for any number of reasons. Nationality, gender, age, hair (of course), your choice of tie, the fact that your tie pin is from a rival school, the fact that a tie pin may indicate a fraternity in college that picked on him, he just doesn't like the way you smile, the background is cream instead of white, that he just does not like your face, anything really and your resume just may get caught in the pile of papers and you may not be able to appeal the decision or even know why it was made.
On the contrary, if you walk into an interview as one of the top couple candidates, the employer has never seen you before and has only judged you on your resume/CV/transcripts and your references. At this point, it becomes easier to follow up and you can more easily tell if something is going on.
I understand you wish to let people know ahead of time that they will see longhair but it can backfire for above reasons and it also could make you look highstrung about your hair like it matters a lot (if you are seen as "one of those guys who always is 'hair,hair,hair'").
You might be able to, once you get the interview, ask a secretary subtly about interview attire and mention long hair to get a vague idea about the politics. She might be able to say "most longhaired guys put it in a ponytail" or "a ponytail will work to hide it from the boss" or "sounds good--after all that is what the boss does with his hair".
I think just a normal resume without a description of yourself and talking about your hair would be the safest route to take.
Aside from the previously mentioned EOE issues, including a picture would make your resume stand out--and not in a good way. It's just not part of the procedure. On the one hand, you want your resume to stand out from the pack, on the other hand, you want it to stand out because...
...it's got the right buzz words
...you have experience in a particular area where they need help
...the paper is a slightly different color (this is an old salt, I have no idea if it actually works)
...it was handed to HR by a connection who has already hired you, and the HR person just needs it to be on file, possibly to check facts.
That last one has, in my experience, been far and away the most important.
Thanks all for the responses, I'll take your advice and leave the picture out of the resume! I'll go into the interviews on my merit and see how it goes. If they like me for my work I should do fine.
Thanks, I have really been stressing about this.
Cheers,
Matt.