Cedars, March 2019

March 2019 4 CAMPUS by Zach Krauss D o tattoos make it harder to get a job? With summer less than two months away, students are search- ing job boards and career portals to find summer or permanent employment. For interviews, students are advised to dress correctly, submit a polished resume and give a firm handshake. Students try to present themselves as the best candidates for the job they want. Do tattoos play a role in this presentation or affect an employer’s hiring decision? Jeff Reep, director of Career Services at Cedarville, has been helping students hunt for jobs for over 20 years. His opinion is that the only tattoos to avoid are those on the hands and face. “The whole outlook on tattoos has changed dramatically in recent times,” Reep said. “There are certain professions that might be a little bit more conservative than others, but the landscape is different now.” Reep said some fields like education, accounting, engineering, government and information technology might not have changed as much and could still hold more conservative views about tattoos. However, most fields in the liberal arts such as mar- keting, music or graphic design might have changed to be less strict. Reep suggested students research the kinds of employers they want to work for and their policies for employees to get an idea of how their career field views tattoos. He also recommended that students consider where they plan to live. He said that employers in California or New York might be more tolerant of tattoos, while em- ployers in rural areas may be more conser- vative. While these tips might be very im- portant to some, others claim to have had little issue with having and even showing their tattoos in the workplace. Jess Westenberg, junior social work major, said future positions from employers weren’t on her mind when she got her first tattoo. “My thought process was that this was something I really wanted,” Westenberg said, “so I was going to do it.” Westenberg is interning through the social work department at Cedarville and has found that her workplace doesn’t mind her tattoos. The social work department re- quires students to cover up tattoos initially, but Westenberg said that her site does not prevent her from showing her tattoos. She doesn’t believe her tattoos prevent her from confidently and professionally presenting herself in an interview process. “I think in an interview I would cover up my tattoos initially and then bring up the employer’s policy on tattoos later in order to figure things out,” Westenberg said. “What- ever their answer was, I would want to be able to have an open discussion about their policy and let them know that no matter what I’m going to respect what those poli- cies are.” Tasha Peterson, senior visual commu- nication design major, doesn’t believe that Changing Perceptions on Tattoos Students and faculty discuss how tattoos relate to a professional appearance Photos by Kelsey Feuerhak James Osborne is a senior computer science major with a tattoo in Greek that translates to “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” from Philippians 1:21.