Whiskers

[UKRay]

I just had a distressing email from a friend in Boston MA. We had been discussing a vague and almost impossible idea of me moving home to the US, but I have now been told that I'll never get a job as long as I have a beard.

Okay, this guy was talking about the sort of corporate job I'd rather avoid, but the question remains - are blokes with beards treated differently in the US to those who 'ain't got 'em?

Is there really some kind of uptight whiskery social stigma in the US that I'm not aware of over here in the laid-back liberal UK? :wtf:

I gotta know!!!!!

P.S. Why don't any of these emoticons have whiskers?

[David]

It all depends what sort of job you are applying for..... lawyer in a big corporation?? you better shave. Factory worker for the same company?? you're ok.... at some place on the food chain is an invisible wall that requires a razor to pass.

Dave

[ClayB]

So that's why I am still a construction worker!! I'm not so sure that holds true across the country. A lot of people out west have beards especially in the winter, and even more have moustaches all year long. Some of the jobs in the oil field require you to be clean shaven in case you have to use a gas mask and need it to seal on your face. But there are bankers and lawyers around here that have beards. I have a brother that runs several companies and they used to even have contests to see who could grow the best beard in a set amount of time with cash prizes.

[CitizenKate]

Candidates for professional jobs are often advised to be clean-shaven, at least for the interview. I wouldn't say you would never get a job if you had a beard, but facial hair is a slight turn-off for some potential employers.

On the other hand, I don't know of any company (other than what Clay mentioned) that prohibits facial hair, so once you've got your job, you can always grow it back. I know at least a few guys who took that route.

Kate

[ArtS]

There wouldn't be anything formal stating that you couldn't have a beard. A lot depends on the person that is doing the interviewing. It also depends on the person's qualifications.

We've hired engineers that were very qualified and had beards. If it were a novice with a beard they would probably lean towards the the clean shaven person. It really depends on the person interviewing you. What kind of job do you want?

ArtS

[Timd]

I haven't shaved since 1977, and while i've never applied for a suit n' tie job(I'm a wood butcher...) I don't think my beard has cost me any jobs. Now back in my wild days as a welder, my long hair was a problem for some, but that was then, and now I'd look silly with a pony-tail...lol

Edited August 31, 2008 by Timd1159

[DCKNIVES]

Well I've had a full beard and ponytail since about '72 but I have always worked in "blue collar" jobs.Trimmed nicely I would think you would be good anywhere except where it might be dangerous.A group of us sheathmakers got together at the Blade Show in Atlanta this year and we got many fun comments about the connection between having hairy faces and working leather.Dave

That's me in the black hat and shirt 2nd from the right

[Windy]

I found this interesting on beards in America.

http://www.flakmag.com/misc/beard.html

WINDY

[Tina]

Personally,

The world would be a rather boring place without facial hairy men:-)

[JRedding]

Where I live there are so many people walking around covered it tattoos and wearing fishing tackle in their face who'd notice a beard. A guy with a neatly trimmed beard is todays equivilent of clean-cut. You'd have to look like Grizzly Adams to even get a second look.

Edited September 1, 2008 by JRedding

[jbird]

Ok so this is a interesting topic I think you must at least have a short clean cut beard, but better luck if you are clean shaved, I grew a beard last winter and it was gone the minute spring came. take TV commercials they are advertising with clean shaved men with short hair, I don't no if any one watches golf but Mike Weir grew a beard for the PGA playoffs and the next week it was gone he took heat from the PGA. you don't see it in the spot light. it ain't like the good old days where a nice clean cut beard was fashionable.

Josh

Edited September 1, 2008 by jbird

[ArtS]

I've grown my beard on and off for years. I like not having to shave but honestly I can tell that upper management doesn't really like it but it's unsaid. Comments and looks tell how they really feel. The important thing is that my wife hates it. LOL She loves the mustache but not the beard. I have to grow it once and a while just to let her know I haven't been gelded. I figure the more of my face I can cover up the better! LOL

ArtS

[tonyc1]

I've grown my beard on and off for years. I like not having to shave but honestly I can tell that upper management doesn't really like it but it's unsaid. Comments and looks tell how they really feel. The important thing is that my wife hates it. LOL She loves the mustache but not the beard. I have to grow it once and a while just to let her know I haven't been gelded. I figure the more of my face I can cover up the better! LOL

ArtS

I suggested a beard app 25 years ago but she who must be obeyed said "I could have a beard but I'd get nothing else", if you know what I mean!, Needless to say I'm still clean shaven!!!

Tony.

[TwinOaks]

My wife likes a short beard, but I think it's too itchy for the summer time. So we compromise and I wear a mustache (which has never been shaved since I started it) and goatee year 'round. I start the beard in mid to late October when it starts getting cool. It leaves in the spring time. As far as jobs go, if you need the job you should shave. If you have the job, you can try for a short beard as long as nobody cares; just don't look for promotions. If you don't need or really care about the job at all, grow your beard how you like it. You'll be happier, and that will reflect in your work. It'll also piss off the local managers, but impress the big money and you might find yourself promoted over your former boss. Don't ask....it's weird, but it happens.

There's also hunting season to consider....for some odd reason, even the store managers around here think you have to sport a 5 o'clock shadow that it took you 5 months to grow, just to go out in the woods to kill something.

Edited September 1, 2008 by TwinOaks

[ArtS]

Tony I think you made the right choice.

ArtS

[DCKNIVES]

Funny, my wife likes my beard and does all the trimming.She said if I cut my beard shes cuts her very long hair.Dave

[wildrose]

My husband is in the computer industry (database design/development). He has always been told that for interviewing, he should be clean shaven. Personally, I HATE it when he doesn't have a mustache, at least, and he usually has a goatee too. Once, he grew a full beard, but that wasn't too great looking on him, and he didn't like it anyway. One of my uncles, also in the corporate world, shave his beard/'stache for the first time in my whole life a few years ago when he'd been "downsized" and needed to start interviewing again.

I think it can also be viewed as a generational thing: his great aunts thought his mustache was disgusting and were always on his case about it. We jokingly called it a "flavor savor".

So I guess it's like folks are saying: depends on what you're hiring for.

[UKRay]

Thanks for all your comments, suggestions and advice guys. And thanks for the vote of confidence Tina!

I know it sounds like a daft question, and I must confess it was asked somewhat tongue in cheek, but I was quite surprised and slightly amused to hear that a whisker 'prejudice' really does exist. A few enquiries at this end later and I have to tell you that the only signs of prejudice this side of the pond came from those working in big 'multinational' corporates. The British 'establishment' doesn't seem to care one way or another, I even worked on the London Times newspaper whilst sporting an absolutely HUGE set of whiskers and you don't get more 'establishment' than that!

As a (currently freelance) writer, I'm not altogether sure where I stand on the employment ladder - I'm more 'old T-shirt with holes in and no collar' than 'white collar' or 'blue collar'. In the UK I generally work remotely so the beard hasn't been a problem for me, whilst the geeky companies I generally write for almost seem to expect a bloke with whiskers.

I haven't worked in the US for a number of years (and I never once met my bosses face to face as all communications were by phone or email!) so I'm not sure if publications still use remote working freelancers in the same way as the UK - does anyone know more than me? It could save me a fortune in razor blades... <grin!>

[JohnD]

I have had a beard off and on for about 12 years now. Mostly on. When I was interviewing for a job I was clean shaven. Nobody told me to, I just personally felt it made a better impression? After 5 years with the phone company, Having some form of facial hair the whole time, I went for my Journeymans exam. I was given the advice to treat the exam like an interview. I shaved clean for the exam and have had, pretty much a full beard ever since (about 6 years).

My wife loves it and gets angry when I do shave it. I shaved it down to stubble in June because of the heat and my 5 year old son had a real hard time with it. The first day he just stared at me, he couldn't get a grasp on what had happened. he told me not to do it again.

John

[BradB]

I have had a goatee for about 15 years or so, I have gone from a data entry person to the Lead Database Administrator for one of the largest trucking/logistic companies in the world and have never had a problem with having facial hair. During this time I have worked for 5 different companies never shaved it off for an interview. I do trim it every week which I think makes a big difference in the appearance. If they don't like the way I look with facial hair then it is probably a very uptight place to work, IMHO, and I probably would not like working there anyway.

JohnD - my family has told me to never shave it off again either (I had to for a medical procedure)

[Rawhide]

...

On the other hand, I don't know of any company (other than what Clay mentioned) that prohibits facial hair, so once you've got your job, you can always grow it back. I know at least a few guys who took that route.

Kate

Kate,

I used to work at a casino owned by Argosy Gaming, and they had a strict policy of "NO BEARDS". I could wear a small goatee under the bottom lip, but no further than that. I got the job wearing a beard in the interview, but was told I had to shave to keep it.

Not sure if it's the same now since it's been over ten years since I worked there.

Marlon

[UKRay]

Just in case anyone is interested Pogonophobia is the fear of beards... nice to know there is a word for it!