Beard or no beard for new job? Discussion

If I could grow a beard I would wear it. As long as you look the part, then well kept is well kept.

I go with the beard. I keep mine neat and make sure my neck is shaved. Looks good even in a suit and tie. I look like I'm about 12 without it.

My policy was shave and then earn the ability to look however I want, within reason. I also didn't negotiate on pay. I told them to pay me what my resume tells you I'm worth and in 6 months we will meet again to renegotiate. I don't ask for value without providing proof of value first. We met and I got the pay I was looking for. This was for a business casual-business formal kind of job.

That Amish or Mennonite style beard without a mustache makes you look like a trustworthy employee.

Lol i will say this, i worked for a very large investment firm for 3 years. i had a mustache (lol i mean what i could grow) and knew a lot of people with facial hair that i also worked with. as long as its clean and does not look like slapped ass or a soup sandwich i think its perfectly acceptable.

IMO go to every interview as clean shaving and squared away as possible. You never know what the guy doing the interviews disposition towards grooming standards is going to be unless you do which then it probably doesn't matter. This is how i would do it and then if hired conform to grooming standards which usually allows beards.

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Originally Posted by MonkeyShuttle

IMO go to every interview as clean shaving and squared away as possible. You never know what the guy doing the interviews disposition towards grooming standards is going to be unless you do which then it probably doesn't matter. This is how i would do it and then if hired conform to grooming standards which usually allows beards.

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REP. well Spoken Sir.

I'd say go clean shaven.... Then as MonkeyShuttle said, conform to what you see and /or slowly grow it back out. This way you are safe if any interviewer has a weird thing against beards.

I work at a school and some of our teachers do have beards, but always short and neatly groomed. I think longer / scraggly beards can look sloppy or unprofessional sometimes, but again, it depends on the field you're in.

Slapped ass or a soup sandwich? What the heck does that mean? LOL

It depends on the job and your age in my opinion. For my current job I interviewed when I was 27 and knew I would be one of the youngest people at the company. I kept my beard but trimmed it well and shaved the extended areas (high on my cheek, neck, etc.) This is a job where I have to wear a collar, shiny shoes, no jeans, etc. every day though. For a different job it wouldn't have mattered as much. If I were a bit older and stepping into an environment where everyone was the same age I probably would have been clean shaven and then earned the respect before growing it back out again. If I was in a job where I was client-facing or customer-facing regularly I would definitely keep it short trimmed or clean shaven all the time.

Like it or not, people make assumptions about a 6 inch beard. You listen to metal, you like snakes, you have smoked the marijuana plant like a cigarette at some point or another, you may have been in a fight at some point, you have a dislike for authority, you play World of Warcraft, you wake up at noon on weekends, and the list goes on and on. Your goal at an interview is to make people see you differently from that. Once you get the job, you show your abilities and earn respect and THEN you can have a beard because you're past the initial judgement stage. If my boss saw my huge tattoos at my interview I wouldn't have gotten the job. Now he makes all kinds of jokes about how I look like George Clooney in Dusk Till Dawn - because he knows I am a hard worker and take pride in what I do and don't let my personal interests affect my work.
/2cents

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Originally Posted by MrLang

Like it or not, people make assumptions about a 6 inch beard. You listen to metal, you like snakes, you have smoked the marijuana plant like a cigarette at some point or another, you may have been in a fight at some point, you have a dislike for authority, you play World of Warcraft, you wake up at noon on weekends, and the list goes on and on. Your goal at an interview is to make people see you differently from that. Once you get the job, you show your abilities and earn respect and THEN you can have a beard because you're past the initial judgement stage. If my boss saw my huge tattoos at my interview I wouldn't have gotten the job. Now he makes all kinds of jokes about how I look like George Clooney in Dusk Till Dawn - because he knows I am a hard worker and take pride in what I do and don't let my personal interests affect my work.
/2cents

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Best thing I have read all day!!! too funny but true