We asked a lawyer if you should cover up your tattoos to get a job

You probably thought it was a good idea at the time

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You’re freshly graduated, already accepted to the law school of your choice and ready to take on the “adult” world. You have an internship at one of the top law firms in the country. Your first day you walk in with a pressed suit and those new shoes. You stick your hand out to shake your boss’ hand and lo and behold there it is – that 2am forever regretted tiger eye on the inner wrist of your right hand that is staring both you and your boss straight in the eye. There’s one word that comes to mind: awkward.

Tattoos have been looked at as a way to express yourself in a more permanent way. In fact, according to statistic brain 36 percent of 18-25 year olds have tattoos. But what does this mean if you’re looking to join a more traditional field such as banking, accounting or a law firm? The Tab interviewed Ken Williams, a lawyer at Hall Estill in Oklahoma to find out what lawyers in 2016 make of your ink.

If I was an intern for your law firm, would I have to cover my tattoos for an internship?

I am not aware of an expressed written policy regarding covering up tattoos. Just from observation, the environment of the firm, because it is a professional organization – most of our employees cover their tattoos just because that’s the personality of the firm. I also think that because Oklahoma is an employment at will state – meaning that employers can hire or fire on just about anything that they want to just as long as it is not against the protective categories, like religion or gender – the reality of it is, that if someone appeared requesting an internship and they were displaying all manner of tattoos – that would probably not be considered something in their favor.

Would you feel the same about hiring a lawyer that had a sleeve of tattoos, or eyebrow piercing or nose piercing?

I think that anything that could be perceived as affecting the ability of an attorney to be taken seriously by the court or a client, would be a factor that would be weighed heavily. For example, facial tattoos, when someone has a permanent look to their eyebrows – I don’t that wouldn’t bother anybody, but I remember seeing a Mickey Mouse tattoo in the middle of someone’s forehead not long ago, that would probably not be received well and would probably act as an obstacle to us hiring you.

Do you feel like there is a difference between being an intern and actually hiring someone? For example, is there more leeway for someone that is on an internship versus someone who is interviewing for a position?

I think it actually goes the other way – I think an intern is viewed as someone who is being given an opportunity both for their experience and their benefit as much if not more so than the benefit of the firm. As a result an applicant for an internship is going to be scrutinized, in some ways more rigorously than an full lawyer.

 How would you suggest I present myself in an interview or an internship?

My personal recommendation, is always to present yourself to your best ability. I think it is rare for a potential employer to offended by someone showing up to talk about if they are dressed professionally. As far as attire goes, it would be what you would expect to see if you were seeking out a professional. As far as how you conduct yourself, it would be as a mature adult. Clean speech, sentences spoken in complete, grammatical fashion, profanity is just a bad idea – you should just present yourself to your best ability.

 

Do you feel that more traditional fields focus on their perception to the public rather than allowing their employees to express themselves through their outward appearance?

I think there is a basic misunderstanding here. Businesses are not really about providing opportunities for employees to express themselves other than creatively. If there is a business that is looking for talent to creatively express themself, that’s one thing. Businesses are in the business of presenting an attractive, appealing face to the broadest possible number of clients. The more a business can do to present an attractive, appealing presence is something that engenders respect and reliance on that business – that’s what is important to the business, rather than the employees expressing themselves. Even to the extent that if an applicant for internship walks in and thinks that they’re doing a business a favor, and should be able to express themselves however they want, has a very basic misunderstanding of how businesses operate.

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