new thread
Hi everyone! My name is Zach and I posted on here once before (just a quick introduction and picture of my one year growth). I am about to graduate college and am a little nervous about my long hair affecting my job prospects. I am majoring in History and hope to get a job in a library or museum, do you guys think it will hurt my image in interviews? Has long hair narrowed your work choices down? I'm kind of torn about whether or not to cut my hair for now because being fresh out of college getting a job is very important to me...and although I know it shouldn't matter how you style your hair I am afraid it might hurt my chances of landing a job in this tight economy. What do you think? I'd love to hear about your experiences with work and long hair :) Thanks! Zach
Personally I think it depends on the field and where in said field. If we're talking more of Public Relations/politics/business/etc., etc. they only want the usual short-crops. You might get away with it depending on the specific position in the History field. I'm just lucky I like to deal with IT/Telecom related careers since they're very lenient towards how one presents themselves as long as they can show the job can be done.
Some very conservative professions will not like this style - indeed they only like stereotypes but in a library or museum I would not envisage that prejudice. Keep it clean and tidy and go for it.
I don't think your hair will keep you from getting a job. Dress professionally. Research the companies or museum, before you interview. Act yourself and tell the employer what you bring to the table. The key to getting a job, is to sell yourself and your talent. You have to convince the employer that you will benefit them, and make them money. Or, make their job easier. Also it helps to be enthusiastic about the job. (excuse my spelling errors!)
Good Luck!
Darrin
With my long hair I work as a book-keeper. I've been with the
same company since 1986. Only got a couple of complaints a number of years ago. i ignored them and never got any further
complaints. There is one other guy who works for the company
on the loading dock who also has long hair. He started working for the company about 10 year ago.
I've also never gotten any complaints about clothes, most of the
time now I wear shorts, although there have been times where I
wore jeans with holes in the knees, overalls, or jeans without holes. I've never gotten "dressed up" for this job.
Long hair never hindered my job interviews. But I'm a C++ programmer. It's a profession with more long hair and other weird faces than others. Nevertheless, I honestly don't believe that it's a problem. At least, not more than for men with a shaved head.
On the other hand, you look kind. You must appear amicable but not kind. Kind people tend to appear dull whereas wicked people tend to appear more intelligent than they actually are.
Try to be amicable, confident and talkative.
Thanks everyone for your replies :) I really appreciate the long hair motivation because I have been bummed about the possibility of cutting it now that it is finally becoming a long style. Ever since I was a little kid I had short hair but loved a family's friend ponytail and can't wait to make it to that length! I think I will follow everyone's advice and keep it and make sure I dress nice and speak confidently and enthusiastically in my interviews!
ThrasherAndy-I understand what you are saying. I guess I'll have to feel out the positions and make the decision then but hopefully a history related field will be more open minded :)
UK-I hope you are right about museums and libraries being more lenient.but I have the same feeling. Seems to be an intellectual field with less prejudices!
Darrin-Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely do everything you mentioned. I think being excited about the job will be easy if I get into a library/museum setting. Being a nerd I get a rush just walking into libraries and being surrounded by so much knowledge!
Albany-I'm glad to hear that long hair didn't get in the way of your job!
Cheveux-I have heard that too about IT work. I applaud you for having a job in that field. I have always loved computers and think it sounds like a pretty good gig :)You are right on about me being a kind person.. definitely got to work on being more confident as I tend to be a shy person (but a deep down extrovert).
yeah it's definitely something i've also thought about. why is a man’s hairstyle more important than his qualifications.
i just recently wrote an article about this:
Will Having Long Hair Hurt Me Professionally?