Getting a job with long hair?
 

So, today both my parents decided to barrage me with more requests to get my haircut and warnings that I will never get a job/end up working at Mickie D's the rest of my life.

My question to you gentlemen/gentlewomen, is it possible to get a decent IT job for some business whilst also being a male with long hair and/or facial hair?

If not, then I'd think that'd be some form of discrimination and I should be able to sue or take some kind of legal action...this is assuming I'm a perfect candidate for the job position and the only reason why not would be my appearance.

As long as you're alright with never being at the top, you'll be fine with long hair. I work in a professional environment and a few guys with long hair have pretty good jobs. There's even an engineer with long hair. However, I will say it probably depends on the type of long hair. The guys with long hair at my work are surfer/skater types. If you've got black/multicolored hair draped over your face in an oh-so-emo way, you probably won't get hired. Even if you don't work in a service setting, people generally don't enjoy working around depressing people.

Also, facial hair, in my experience, is generally irrelevant. With the exception of jobs that require you to be clean-shaven for handling/sanitary/etc reasons, facial hair is pretty much accepted from my experience.

I guess the main concern is whether or not you are around clients/customers. Businesses generally want to present themselves in the best way possible, with the exception of fast food and some low class retail stores.

In most instances, with well-maintained and/or groomed facial hair you won't run into any issues. Like K_A said, you may not be too hopeful for making top tier with that, but you never know.

Specifically, what sort of IT job are you looking for?

Shave your beard and grow a mustache if you want a job. I'm not joking, apparently it works. :/

If you're going to have a mustache you're probably better off having a well-kept beard as well. A mustache by itself looks silly.

Also, I failed to mention in my previous post that grungy rocker hair falls into the same category as long black emo hair.

In the hand book that I received after being hired at my last IT job stated that facial hair was accepted, as long as it was kept short and trimmed. The best way to go about what you're wanting to do is cut it short, get hired and then grow it back out again.

I work in IT and I have facial hair.

omg

Even though that's not me in my picture, but my hair looks kind of like that at the moment. Putting it into a pony tail is no issue and typically looks a little more professional/classy. I have sideburns, mustache, and a small beard but don't have as much of an issue shaving all that off than my long hair. It takes much longer to grow hair back than facial hair. Anyways, I don't plan on becoming a manager or CEO or anything so that's fine. I'm not aiming for any specific IT job but I'm getting a minor in Graphic Design too, so hopefully something involving web design, maybe? I knew I shouldn't listen to my parents...They're both conformist, conservative, racist, glen-beck-lovers.

This. Just tell them they don't work for the company you're applying for, so obviously they don't know wtf they're talking about.

I dunno, I never had any real problems with my hair being all grunge looking.

But for the most part, yeah, his parents are a bit full of shit. Long hair doesn't bar you from being picked up for a job like it used to.

Also: stupid conformists *hair sway*

long hair, don't care

Apparently people with mustache alone are more successful than someone with both or none.

Were I work, we have limits on how long facial hair can be. Barring any religious reasons, itt has to appear groomed at all times and be < 1 inch long, so that means daily shaving. Hair if it is too long just has to be tied back. As long as it's within the company image standards though I really dont think they can nix you out just for that.

If your beard grows 1 inch in a day, PROPS dude.

That's what I'm sayin'. :eek: