A thought occurred to me the other day: I wonder if I have ever lost a potential job because I have a beard.
While I believe that beards are generally socially acceptable in the frozen north that is Canada (or at least Edmonton), I suspect that there are still a lot of conservative people out there who think that only rebels and freaky artists/musicians grow beards.
Respectable people, in the minds of certain conservative types, do not grow facial hair.
And so I wonder if, despite the relative normalcy of facial hair in Edmonton, I have ever been denied a job because I don’t scrape a razor across my face everyday.
Until I began my current job, I had been searching for quite a while. While I wasn’t the most active job hunter—the fact that I was employed meant that I could be a bit pickier about the types of jobs that I applied for—it took me nearly two years to finally land a new job. (For the record, there were a few offers during those years, but the salaries turned out to be so far below what I was making at the position I held at the time that I simply couldn’t accept.)
Surely, I was qualified for at least some of the jobs that I applied for in that two year timespan.
And so I wonder: Did I lose out on these jobs because someone else was genuinely more qualified, or were there situations where I was as qualified as someone else, but they were clean-shaven and therefore the preferred candidate?
If I did miss out on a job because I have a beard, well, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to work for that company anyway. If I did miss out on a job because I have a beard, I’m OK with that.
But, I do wonder. What do you think?
I realize that some oil field companies require employees to be clean-shaven so that they can wear gas masks and get a proper seal, but beyond these, are there employers in this fine city of ours who will reject a job application because the potential employee has facial hair?
6 Comments
I would be surprised if a well-maintained beard was ever a problem.
I think the hippies and freaks category is the crazy beard, stubble, unkempt hair, etc. I imagine first impressions take in the whole hair-care package.
I think that you’re probably correct, though I do remember reading somewhere that, in most US states, beards are generally not considered socially acceptable. If accurate, I find that a bit weird, but I could see it holding true to a much lesser extent in Canada.
Yes you lost those jobs just because of facial hair you crazy monkey….
I didn’t really think that this was the case, Babba, I just found myself wondering about it recently.
(My) Adam has wondered this as well, as he’s been maintaining a beard for quite a long time now. He shaved it off briefly for a interview for a job he really wanted over a year ago, he got the job, and after a week there he had a 3 week break over Christmas – time he spent re-growing his beard – which everyone seemed to like.
He shaved his beard again recently just to see what I would say, and I really didn’t like it, so he’s since grown it back.
I’ve never shaved my beard off for a job interview—though I have trimmed it shorter than usual—because I figured that it would be dishonest to shave it only to regrow it once I got the job. But, I’ve definitely considered it at times.
And, I suppose, if there job were good enough, I might consider going clean-shaven all the time. Not sure how Sara would feel about that, though.