moominmolly | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

You posited knocking off of the socks. That's all I really need to know. Orange hair ranges between 'I couldn't care less' and 'personal positive' for a non-customer-facing position, depending on how well they pull it off.

The orange hair wouldn't matter as much as the nature of the hair. Is it neatly brushed and clean? Are you dressed in the appropriate interview attire? What I want to see is a level of respect for (future) co-workers and managers reflected in the candidate's appearance; I want to know that they take the interview, and the responsibility to be a "team player", seriously.

If it is important to keep the orange hair, you might want to turn up the "conservative" on the rest of the outfit; go one level dressier in the clothes, and don businessy earrings and maybe a dab of conservatively applied makeup.

BTW, it is remotely possible that your friend's list is not a statistically representative sample of the average hiring manager. Far-fetched, but possible.

Oooh, good point.

I suppose friend's shouldn't be possessivized. I never know how to spell that. Somehow the pluralnoun-singlenoun combination "friends list" never feels right to me.

I think I would hire the person. On the other hand, there might be workplace policies against bright orange hair, and I might let them know that when I offered them the job, especially if I could not influence those policies at all.

-E

Oh, it's not important to keep it, particularly. I always dye my hair normal colors for customer visits at my current job, even though every boss I've ever had has told me it wasn't worth the bother to do. I just think it would be kind of fun. I actually do err on the side of dressy already, for similar reasons (mild fear of overfreakiness), and that drives my urge to dye.

Basically: I think that most people who I'd care to work for would see it as neutral and far outweighed by other considerations (like the ones you list). I think I'd feel that way if I were hiring, too, so I'm going to keep it this color for a while. The thing is, my impulse to dye it back is SO STRONG that I think I have to NOT do it just to see how I feel. :)

(For me: it depends on how they pull off the hair, actually.)

*snort* NEVER.

I think you should keep it then. :-) Fight the urge to conform!

You, of course, are in a luxury position of interviewing for a job that you might want but don't need. Therefore you can afford to say "if my hair is a show-stopper for them, it isn't the kind of place I want to work anyway." If you were unemployed and had a mortgage to pay, my advice would be different.

Oh, yes, absolutely. This is totally a luxury question! If it were even the case that I thoroughly couldn't stand my current job (but wasn't about to lose it), I wouldn't think twice before dyeing it a nice neutral dark brown. As it is, I just don't want to make the move to the exurbs, and that's not even for a year.

I've never worked at a tech place with a hair color policy before.

I said yes, but I have, in the past, refrained from making my hair some wacky color around job interviews. In fact, I've refrained from making my hair some wacky color even after I've gotten the job. If you've got the confidence to pull it off, good for you!

The "other" for me is about corporate culture - do i think that the hair color would get in the way of the person being taken seriously at hir job? Not by me, but by other people int he department or whatever.

(Technically I'm not a hiring manager right now, but i interview people)

This was my comment as well. It seems almost like you should count a "no from the real world" for ever "yes from my flist"

:)

Yeah, me too. That's the other part of it that I would personally consider, if I were interviewing.

The flip side of "yes, of course," is that as an interviewee, I want the interviewer to see *me* and not the bright orange hair.

But what if I want to work for my flist? :)

P.S. see my post this morning about how gendered dress codes are still legal!

This is why I love phone interviews! That way, when you walk in the door, they already have a sense of you and they're just matching it up to your body language.

Screw that, I'm still wearing cufflinks to my interview. :)

I hire.

My opinion is that you should be as utterly yourself as you can possibly be. The best VERSION of yourself, for sure, but you don't want to go work daily in a culture who'd have a problem with orange hair, so screen those places out right away. And, as a hiring manager, I'd say that I'd rather hire people who I think will fit in fine with the organization, and the tendency to have orange hair is a consideration, along with everything else.

Personally, the most important trait I look for is kindness and a work ethic. I can teach them everything else. But if they come in saying, "you assholes don't make us work ALL THE WAY until 4:30, do you?" then they're not getting the job, no matter HOW clone-like they appear.

Talking to

moominmolly elsewhere I commented that I would generally prefer the interviewee to be wearing clothes, but one of my techie husband's coworkers at a former company seldom did.

You left off that second part!!

Short answer: probably not. Maybe, maybe I would if
1) it was well within the norm of my company and
2) she really did knock my socks off and
3) I have a sense of humor.

Long answer:
I wouldn't suggest going with orange hair unless you know for certain that employees in that division exhibit that particular type of individuality. Even then, what's acceptable in an interview is very different than what's acceptable after you establish yourself. My friend was once one of two interviewers at a law firm. Good solid candidate had good interview. The very first thing the other interviewer said was "Can you believe he wore pleated pants to an interview?" This even though plenty of lawyers there wore pleated pants. As a more immediate example, a certain mutual friend of our probably wouldn't've been hired if he wore clown shoes to the interview, even though he wears them now at work.

Hair dyed a natural hair color (even if it's clearly not your natural color) is within all norms and won't create a problem. Orange hair has a very small chance of an upside but a largish chance of a downside.

I suppose you could use it as a filter for your potential future employer. Is the ability to have wildly-colored hair sufficiently important to you that you want to be acceptable during the interview itself?

I don't think anyone would ask about a shaved head for fear of discussing a health problem; not sure what they'd say after you left. I imagine, if you went moderately conservative (as defined by your industry) they wouldn't ding you for baldness, thinking it may be health related.

It's not the hair color for me - but the presentation. If you came in wearing what you are wearing in that icon, with your hair unbrushed like in that icon - then no. I would not hire.

Come in with a cute spiky "do", and a well put together outfit that shows some individuality, flair, cleanliness, and a sense of style? Yes, hired.

I work in an industry where style is important. It's good not to be a clone - better, in fact - but it's really excellent to show a sense of style.

N.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 3