moominmolly | (no subject)

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Let's say you're the hiring manager for a non-customer-facing technical position, and your workplace is somewhat laid back, but not quite foosball tables in the bathrooms laid back. Further, let's say you interview someone for a position and they basically knock your socks off on the phone, but when they come in for an in-person interview, despite knocking even more socks, they turn out to have BRIGHT ORANGE HAIR.

[Poll #1064663]

I know what I'm going to do, but I'm curious what other people think I should do.

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!! Nifty!

When it comes to hiring, I'm colour-blind.

I used to hire. Personally I want the person to have an air of comfort with themselves and fantastic communications skills. If they have those two things, I scarcely notice their clothing (apart from its odor or lack of same) because I'm so busy seeing how well they'd work.

If they're tense and closed up, tho, less than perfect polish is always a negative and hair dyed colors not found in nature almost *always* looks like shit no matter how much the wearer loves it. I think I believe this because it doesn't usually look healthy. It's usually damaged beyond belief and whatever it's faded to currently makes for pasty complexion. As I say, this is a generalization.

You and the hair? Since I've never met you, but rumor has it you're the me from the alternate universe where instead of wearing a goatee and being evil, you are just unabashed about your inner geek, I think you should probably just let it all hang out. (Which is what it sounds like you're gonna do.)

Good luck.

Ditto. To me it's about fitting in, perceptions of those meeting you, and showing respect for the company/team. Of course, I work for conservative financial institution, so possibly not completely applicable.

I'm also just fascinated by the variety of answers you're getting.

I was going to say that I can no longer imagine caring what a person wore to an interview, but that's not quite true -- clothes so informal I wouldn't wear them out of the house, or blatantly distracting, would make me think twice about a prospie. But hair's a different matter, because it's not something you generally change every day. So I'd be looking for "appropriately groomed for the chosen style."

Orange hair, in and of itself, would not be dispositive.

I might consider it if it appeared to be part of a more concerning pattern of behavior and was not offset by other positive factors.

Your hair is not part of a concerning pattern. And your skills would more than alleviate those concerns.

The job is not one that requires a conservative appearance, so it shouldn't be much of an issue.

My initial thought is that if they're too squeamish to handle the hair, then they might not be a place that you'd be totally happy at.

And you might want to note that I am being a total hypocrite. I've lost the blue hair, nose ring, boy clothes and short short hair. So any advice I give should be taken with a large pillar of salt. ;)

Hey, I guess I haven't seen photos of you in a while! Come visit. :)

On my planet, orange hair could compensate for a somewhat lackluster résumé.

Yeah, I'd think about that, and I'd also think about many of the things

dbang said, for the same reasons. Also, I think there is orange hair that is meant to say "I love orange!" (like yours) and there is orange hair that is meant to say "fuck you if you're not cool enough to take my orange hair," and "fuck you" is not really the predominant attitude of people I want to hire :)

Taken after seeing your Burning Man pics and missing being on the playa with y'all.

A visit would be very nice. I have Thanksgiving break and then 2 weeks between spring and summer sessions.

Do you know if you and D are headed this way during the holidays?

I'm going to try and convince the school that Burning Man is a good opportunity for pro-bono work and perhaps they'll let me have an absence or two so that I can attend. I'll let you know how that scheme goes.

Any place you want to work won't have "hiring managers" making those decisions -- they'll have peers. And your peers, of course, will consider orange hair a plus.

I sometimes think that I'm not nearly enough of a fuck-you kind of person, but in this case, it works to my advantage. :)

You know,

kcatalyst and

trom's kid is an authority on when it's a good time to say "shut up." Maybe what we need is a local authority on when it's a good time to be all "fuck you!" Except probably not a kid.

I'm sure this has already been said, but orange hair would just be a cue for me to probe more deeply into culture fit of the candidate, where I might otherwise forget. Otherwise, if the candidate is the best qualified, sure!

We never had anyone with orange hair at GS, to my knowledge, but we certainly had nerd ponytails and the occasional goth.

Look at me! Of course I'd hire this person!

I think that distinction underlies a lot of what

dbang is saying -- you can tell which side of attitude people are on if they come in with orange hair and ripped jeans vs. orange hair and a nice suit.

OK, I don't know nearly enough about men's fashion. What's wrong with pleated pants? I mean, except that they're totally unflattering on almost everyone?

I am the last person on earth to ask this question.
Mainly because, while I know how to dress conservatively, I've gone out of my way to find jobs where I can either be a) naked, b) wear pajamas to work and not have it be unusual, or c) be in jobs where being an odd dresser/odd hair dyer is an asset, as opposed to a possible liability.

Still, it's always been my obsevation that odd hair is not anywear near the 'no-no' that it could be in many computer oriented job markets. Especially if the candidate is well qualified and savy. If it were up to me I'd totally hire you.

I would like to volunteer for this position! Where do I apply? Is there a dress code?

;)

It's really, in my opinion, as chrysaphi said, about the culture fit. When I showed up to my last job interview, I was still sporting quite short hair and my nose ring. I compensated by wearing a dressy (but not a suit!), somewhat conservative interview outfit.

Later, when I was hired, I asked one of my bosses what he thought of the nose ring. He laughed and said, "we were only concerned that you were right for the position, but the nosering was a good clue that you were laid back enough to handle our work evironment."

Every company's different, but I think in the end, it's mostly about how you present yourself.

ps - if it were me, I'd probably dye my hair a more normal color, to make sure the focus was on ME during the interview, and not secretly on my hair.

If you're punk rock at the interview, people may be worried how punk rock you'll be when things get informal.

Also, don't let the orange hair be a distraction. If too much interview time is spent talking about Burning Man, that's a bad thing.

~Pete

Beats me. In the 15 years since he told me the story I still haven't figured it out. Point is, the interviewer was so distracted by the fashion detail that it got in the way of everything else.

My initial thought is that if they're too squeamish to handle the hair, then they might not be a place that you'd be totally happy at.

There's a difference between daily work and an interview. For one thing, once you've had the job a bit you've established yourself, your skills and your rep.

If after 15 years you haven't figured out what the guy in the story is talking about, why is this anecdote an argument for anything at all (other than "Don't worry too much; your interviewer might be a nut and shoot you down for no reason.")?

Many people, when this sort of topic comes up, claim the bottom line is that it never hurts to err on the side of dressiness, but this only makes sense if you take 'dressing up' to be a near-universal social code. A clothing rule that can escape being used or mentioned within your hearing for 15 years of life in a culture is almost by definition not part of any universal code.

By the way, the other day B told me that if he'd noticed I wore brand-new dress shoes to the interview, they probably wouldn't have hired me.

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