Tattoo In College

Tattoo Lowers the Chances of College Students being Hired
In a college student lives, getting a tattoo or not is a big decision to make. A person with tattoo is generally viewed as unprofessional, dirty, and untrustworthy due to the negative association of tattoos in the past. Even though some companies in the US are changing laws to be more lenient towards tattoos, tattoos still are still stigmatized by most people and companies. Therefore, college students should avoid getting tattoos due to less chance of being hired, restricted career options, and no laws for protection for tattoos.
Proponents of the belief that college students should not avoid getting tattoos might argue that more companies in the US are changing their dress code policies

Even tattooed students have negative perception for their tattooed peers. According to Foltz (2014), in a hypothetical situation where college students would act as employers, majority of respondents would not hire candidates with tattoos despite the respondents themselves have tattoos. Moreover, Foltz (2014) reported that majority of students believed that tattoos will negatively impact their employment chances. Vault.com survey also found that majority of employers said that there are less chances of being hired for candidates with tattoos. One reason behind this result is that companies are worried because tattoos would misrepresent the company’s image (as cited in Icon). Furthermore, some companies also assumed that people with tattoos are more likely to be involved in risky behaviors which could negatively impact the company’s image in the public. According to Brooks et al, tattooed students engage in more risky behaviors such as drugs, and alcohol than non-tattooed students (as cited in King and Vidouek 2013). Employers always wanted their company’s image to be well represented and that by hiring tattooed employees there will be more chance of the company’s image being misrepresented. Therefore, college students should avoid getting tattoos because it will impact one’s chance of being

College students will have restricted career options due to the fact that tattoos are generally not well received in the professional world and foreign countries. For example, according to Giuffo (2013), the mayor of Osaka forced its governmental employees to remove their tattoos by surgery or get laid off. As a result of possessing tattoos, one will not to be able to work for the government or other public sectors. Moreover, Giuffo (2013) writes that tattoos may possess controversial meanings in foreign countries which may restrict travel abilities especially in Japan and China where tattooed people are still strongly associated with gangsters. Resulting from the limited travel abilities, one can only choose career which does not require travel and companies which have lenient policies on tattoos. In the medical field, according to UCLA health system policy, tattoos will need to be covered in order to maintain full professionalism (as cited in Hennessey 2014). All these examples suggest that by possessing tattoos one would have less career options. Therefore, as the job market becomes more competitive, students should avoid tattoos in order to have a better chance of employment through more career