What do you think about men with long hair who are interviewing for professional jobs?
Is it a do or a don’t?
Men With Long Hair
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I actually just interviewed a man with long hair this week. One of my coworkers called it a mullett, but it really wasn’t. He reminded me of one of the BeeGees. It was kind of big on top and down to his shoulders in the back.
I have to say, I was taken aback buy it when I went into the waiting room to bring him in. Hopefully he didn’t see it on my face (this is why I should always do a driveby!:) ).
Anyway, while I didn’t think it looked great, I still passed him on for an interview with the hiring manager. But I do wonder if the clients he would be working with would be taken similarly aback.
Really? Do people still care about this? I think he looks perfectly attired and wouldn’t think another thing about it. (great color tie)
A well qualified candidate with a compelling pitch can pull it off but in reality, this will limit opportunities depending on the company. I think the do/don’t answer depends on the company culture, region and the industry itself. It also depends on the haricut itself (i.e. mullet, rat tail, reverse mohawk etc.)
If a long haircut is accompanied by a Whitesnake, Poison or other similar 80s hairband T shirt, the answer is obviously “do”…
If I worked anywhere other than where I do work, I wouldn’t care at all about it. Because I work on an issue where some people assume we’re going to be hippies/unprofessional (marijuana policy reform), I actually won’t hire any men with long hair. The issue we work on forces us to make a point of presenting a certain image to the world (including legislators, media, funders, etc.) and unfortunately long hair plays into all the stereotypes that we try to counteract. But otherwise I wouldn’t care at all, and I feel ridiculous having to care currently.
This was an old issue when I first got into R in 1986. It is like tattoos: it is only relevant based on the expectations of the employer.
If you have long hair and they don’t like it, you are probably working in the wrong place.
Same for women with extremely short hair!
I want people for their talent and skills. Most jobs are not the face to the public type so it shouldn’t matter. If you’re hiring someone to be your spokesperson then they need to fit whatever image you are trying to portray. Plus, long hair “works” for some guys and not at all for others :-O
I agree – it totally depends on the company and job. Where I work now (in IT) I wouldn’t be able to get good candidates if we wouldn’t consider long hair, tattoos (even on the neck and head), shaved heads, etc. Also, I totally agree with Karla that some people can pull it off and some can’t. If a candidate is in the “can’t” category when we debrief after the interview invariably someone will remember him as the guy with the ridiculous ponytail (or tattoo, or whatever).
I do not find long hair on men even remotely attractive. Fortunately, though, since I’m not interviewing people to date, that’s not relevant. At all.
My feeling is that if you’re a guy with long hair, you should avoid employers who don’t think men should have long hair at work. It’s a great way to quickly weed out cultures that aren’t a fit for you.
The same goes for tattoos, piercings, etc. If that’s your thing, don’t work for people who hate people with those things.
(Alison’s org would be an exception, because I can see why they’d have to be extra-careful with perceptions…but that’s a unique circumstance that doesn’t apply to most employers.)
Is he a hottie?
Oh right, I’m HR, I’m not supposed to think about that at interviews.
We should had this discussion on HR Happy Hour last night. Personally, I really don’t care how they look; it’s what they can do.
If image is an issue when men have short hair and women have long hair, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of a diverse work environment? All this comes down to two words: Common Sense.
@Mike I’m laughing so hard because the BeeGees have the *worst* hair. It’s hair + beards. They look like Geico cavemen.
@Deidre Well I think Cody looks good — and he’s on Fox Business News. That’s why I chose his picture. It’s an interesting image on a business network that skews right.
@Matt If he rocks the Poison look, I’m running. Fast.
@Alison Seriously, I can see why you want to project a different image. Speaking of marijuana legalization, did you see that Brad Pitt would run for mayor on a pro-legalization & taxation platform? He was also wearing a hat like Dom DeLuise. Pathetic hat, but good platform.
@MVD Honest to god, it’s still 1986 in some companies.
@Karla I had a VP who wouldn’t hire a 3rd shift data center operator — who never even saw sunlight — because he had an earring. Barf.
@Megan Why is it that the guys who CAN’T pull it off always try?
@Kerry I have a weird thought about guys with long hair: they are totally narcissistic. Every guy I’ve ever known with long hair — mohawks, mullets, whatnot — have been so vain. Worse than girls.
@H Aria I love how you ask all the important questions. Of course the dude would be hot. Like Fabio.
@Tracy I’m listening to it, right now.
His most perfect hair was in his “Ocean’s 11″ days.
I should also add that while I can’t permit long hair on men on staff, I’ll let them know that up front — as in, “Would you be willing to cut your hair if you got the job?” I wouldn’t just not hire them because of the hair without explaining what the issue was. I did have one guy say no, and I thought that wasn’t unreasonable of him (but then we couldn’t hire him).
Long and neat yes, pony tails no….
M
Unless your a professional in the pony ride business…then there ok too….
@Alison Agreed.
@MarkF When I had long hair, I remember rocking the ponytail 6 days/week because, quite honestly, it was a pain to have all that hair in my face. Weirdly enough, I miss those days so I’m growing my hair, again.
I think guys that rawk the long hair when they can’t pull it off think that they will look like guys that can. Long hair for guys is like spandex for gals. Both can be hot, but too often are the opposite.
I think it’s EXTREMELY tough for a guy with long hair to look truly professional (and not look like just had to get cleaned up for work). How many upper-level male managers do you know with long hair?
There was a great episode of House where he was interviewing candidates to replace one of his doctors (not the sequence where he had everyone play Survivor — this preceded that). He rejected the guy with the long hair and tats because he thought he was pretentious. I believe he said something to the effect of “while you were out on Friday nights pretending not to care what people think by getting tattoos and playing in a band, there were a dozen foreign exchange students working in the library who REALLY didn’t care what anyone thought. Maybe I should hire one of them.” Doesn’t really resolve the question (I’m neutral on the hair question for the record), but I think it’s an interesting take on what really makes someone a non-conformist.
As a follically challanged dude, I envy them and secretly hate them, except for Fabio, I just feel sorry for him.
“How many upper-level male managers do you know with long hair?”
My husband cut his long hair off when he was promoted into management. No one asked him to, he just recognized it as not fitting with the image. He also stopped “hanging” with his subordinates, etc. It all just came together with the title.
And thank God it all happened before we met. Men with long hair look ridiculous.
(Not that it would stop me from hiring one.)
Not hiring a male with long hair equals discrimination in my book. Many European businessmen have long hair and some wear it in ponytails. Stop sweating the little things and look at the brain, not what covers it.
Long hair means pot smoker and a womanizer— Hell yea I’d hire him!!!
Pony tail? eeeewwwwwwwww!!!
Guess it depends like everything else… I live in Austin and work in technology; if long hair was the only visible thing I had to contend with I would be LMAO. We have tats, piercings, dyed hair, you name it. Personally, I LIKE living in Austin: I’ve turned down jobs to stay here. So, long (clean) hair, including dreds & ponytails doesn’t bother me one bit frankly. To be fair, I can no longer grow it – I just cut mine to a “1″ all over (Laurie knows) cause I wanted to age gracefully… The only thing about men’s hair that really bothers me? Guys my age trying to do a comb-over… Now that’s bad judgment!!!
I think that if the hair is pulled back and kept neat, there should be no problem. Now if it’s long but it’s tangled, unclean, or a color that I feel would be distracting- I would say no. I usually go with dressing and doing my hair and makeup as boring as possible because you don’t want to let that or any physical feature deter from your personality.
I think as long as it’s neat, well groomed, and he has a nice haircut, then I wouldn’t hold it against him. I’d probably think he looks like an idiot, but I think the same thing about old dudes who use Brill cream.
Cut it.
Cut Mark and people like him. Your business will thrive.
Sounded abrupt, Andrew? I’m for brevity in blogs.
Of course, I agree with everything above, and we all know there are many different environments, but in corporate American, “short is in.” I’ll bet you a ponytail holder that WAY over half (95%?) of Fortune 500 execs have “short” hair.
I bet you that WAY over half of MEN (95%?) have short hair. This is the exact point people above are trying to make it. If somebody has a great brain covered by long hair, they are surely worth a thousand short haired fools who don’t quite understand proportion.
If men managed to keep their hair neat, not greasy and free of loose tendrils then maybe it would look decent long. Unfortunately since most men can barely keep themselves shaved, I don’t think it works out too often. However, I don’t think it should play a part in the hiring decision unless something else sticks out.
I’m honestly shocked that something this petty is still an issue in these modern times. I have long hair and many tattoos. Anyone who won’t hire me on a hair cut and some ink on my skin is most likely old fashioned or a control freak. I live in Philadelphia so maybe being from a larger city breeds more acceptance of smaller issues. That being said, I still get stared at by crabby old women in the vegetable section of the super market on a weekly basis, but they’re probably racist as well so I laugh it off.
I have long hair in a pony tail because it’s simpler, cheaper and my wife likes it. I’m talented in a lot of areas, mostly IT and creative positions. I have noticed that older women in their sixties and younger women in their forties have an aversion to long hair (I’m in my mid-fifties). Likewise, men from these generations are similar. I actually wouldn’t come back to a second interview if someone seemed to have a problem with it. I don’t like control freaks, as someone labeled them above, and I know I either won’t do my best work for them, or I won’t be there for long. Of course management and sales positions are never on my list of preferred occupations. I prefer to work in a place where knowledge rules and authority is based on experience rather than “presence”.
Hello, My name is don and i have long hair. Today i did a interview and was basically told as long as my background check is good i am hired. so that is good news. Doing what any smart person would do i kept looking for back up jobs and returned a phone call to Ace taxi. over the five min- everything was going good and he liked what he heard. so he started telling me about the company and how everything works to make sure i am interested in coming in.
So he comments on being “clean cut” so i make comment of having long hair, he just blasted out It’s unprofessional. and in return i said well when it gets a little longer i am giving it away to locks of love or a place like that. is there anyway to work around it i keep it nice and neat,maybe a hat or i can pull it into a bun and keep it neat.
In reply he said,Dude its 2010 and its unprofessional,If your not gonna cut it your wasting my time. So i said i don’t plan to cut it at this time,thanks anyways.
I am not some hippie freak-o lazy unprofessional. I am a smart…. fairly smart hard working 26yo male that works hard and dresses and acts very professional at work.at home i am a big goof ball and my wife loves it sometimes haha.
The only thing that got to me is that he thinks it’s unprofessional. He doesn’t know what it looks like.As long as it is clean and neat what does it matter?
I understand that some company’s only hire clean cut employees but that doesn’t mean they’re unprofessional. I just wish more people weren’t so closed minded.
My pic with hair down.hope it makes someone happy one day
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/6301/donnie123.jpg
Thanks for reading
Donald J. S.
If you want find your job in the army – sergeant will not delighted with your long hair