I could really use some advice!

[missyatl]

I'm in the process of looking for another job which means I'll (hopefully) be having some interviews coming up here shortly. I don't know what to do about my nails, I keep them painted all the time now that my current employer verified it's not against any policy. I know the easiest thing to do is to take it off before any interview but this is a part of me I really enjoy and unlike clothes isn't something I can just put on/off on a whim. It's also something I'll want to continue with a new employer, so I'll have to cross that bridge at some point. So my questions are:

Do I be upfront from the very beginning and come to the interview with the polish?
(if so) What do I say about it?
If I take it off for the interview, when do I bring up the topic, in the interview or later?

I really value your feedback! Thank you!

[Melissa Rose]

It may depend on the specific employer and type of job as to whether nail polish is going to be an issue at the interview and negatively impact your chances of getting the job. If you have the opportunity, observe the current employees and determine whether they all dress conservatively or seem to be following a general dress code. If yes, interviewing with nail polish is probably not going to go well or nail polish on males will be frowned upon. If there seems to be a fair amount of free expression fashion wise, it is obviously a more tolerant and accepting place concerning personal appearance and expression.

While an employer may not disallow nail polish on males, it could affect your future opportunities or chance for advancement if those are important to you. When in doubt and you really want the job, lose the nail polish at the interview and develop a good track record before bringing it up later. If you are going to wear polish on the interview, go with a more subtle color. The bottom line question is how badly do you want the job and are you willing to take the chance that wearing nail polish would be an unstated deal breaker. Your decisions during the interview is a direct reflection on your decision making abilities once employed. As a former hiring manager, I always recommend erring on the side of caution unless you have good evidence otherwise. Once you have an interview, it is often the seemingly small things that get or lose you a job and not something big.

[Taylor186]

It seems to me that good jobs are hard to find these days and any opening get hundreds of applicants. So I ask you, why take the chance?

[kimdl93]

I'd take the polish off before the interview. If a job offer comes, that's the time to explore their personnel policies to see if it's a work environment that can work for you.

[NicoleScott]

Melissa Rose, yours was a perfect response. It's often the intangibles that get you the job ---- or not.

[Karren H]

in this market you do not want to give them any excuses to not hire you and hire one of the 50 other people wanting that job....

[Marie-Elise]

As someone who has hired people and who recently went through a job search, I would advise against polished nails during the interview process. I think the goal during the interview process is to not only validate that you are qualified for the role, but also to validate that there is a "fit" or that you will "fit in". I think polished nails would work against you in the latter.

Once you have that offer and have accepted, you might be able to incrementally explore boundaries. Just my two cents.

Good luck on the job hunt.

[Donna St. Marten]

Only bring it up if you are applying as an assistant at the MAC counter.

[sweetchick]

Missy, First of all you live in the south, so do I, and as you know the south is much more conservative when it comes to such things. If you need a job, just go to the interview without polish on. Once you have the job, see how your supervisor would accept it as part of your dress. I would ask other co-workers what they through the supervisors reaction would be before appearing at work with polished nails. Get to know your co-workers first and talk about the concept to them to guage their reaction before you proceed. Get the Job First!!

[missyatl]

I hear the majority all saying to go without for the interview then approach the subject later. This makes total sense to me and I agree with all the points given thus far. My issue is that like any interview, not only are they evaluating you but you are evaluating them. There are many factors in deciding which job you want to take (money, duties, distance, environment, etc). Acceptance of my lifestyle is one of those factors for me. I realize most jobs may not be considerate of this but some (like my current job) are. So if I have a choice and job A accepts me but is 10 minutes further then job B which doesn't, I'll choose job A.

Bringing up the subject after the fact could result in a job I'm not overall happy with, yes I'll have a paycheck but I won't be happy with my choice. I was worried to death about mentioning it here but if I hadn't taken that leap of faith I wouldn't have ever known it was ok. That's me, I'm very straight forward and honest, I'm willing to take chances, you only live once! I'm sure to some I'll probably sound naive and not happy unless I get my way but I feel I'm brave and willing to stand up for what I believe in.

I have some serious thinking to do. Thank you for the responses so far, I really appreciate them, it's given me a lot to consider.

[Melissa Rose]

Bringing up the subject after the fact could result in a job I'm not overall happy with, yes I'll have a paycheck but I won't be happy with my choice.

Are you assuming any place that would not hire you because you wore nail polish during an interview or disallowed you to wear polish at work would be a worse place to work (i.e., you are unhappy with the job) than one that did not? If you are, IMHO that is very faulty reasoning. You are prematurely determining job happiness on a relatively minor issue and one that has very little to do with the actual job you would be doing, how the company treats the employees and your co-workers. I know of plenty of places that are great places to work and no one is allowed to wear nail polish, jewelry and/or cosmetics due to the nature of the job; and I know of places that have a very liberal dress codes that totally suck.

[Foxglove]

Hi, Missy! I thoroughly sympathize with you. My nails are very important to me, too. I've let them grow, and I keep them painted a lot of the time. One of my favorite girly things to do, one of my favorite ways to express myself.

But tomorrow I've got things to do in town. Then on Wednesday my son is coming to visit for the day, and even though I came out to him recently, I can't really be girly in front of him yet. We're not that far along with things. So it appears to me I'm going to have to go two whole days without my nails painted, and that saddens me a wee bit. That may sound silly to some people, but some of us simply love our nails.

So I understand where you're coming from--but I still wouldn't go to an interview with my nails painted. There may be a few guys around these days who paint their nails, but on the whole I think most people regard it as a very girly thing to do. I doubt it would go down well at an interview. I'm not sure painted nails would help you nail that job.

Best wishes, Annabelle

[Presh GG]

May I ask the field you are looking in?

Thanks,
Presh GG

[Cynthia Anne]

I say wear the nail polish! This way you stand a better chance of helping someone else land a job! Hugs!

[Maria 60]

I would take it off and when you get a job, you could judge the company and co-workers and take it from there.

[BobbieBrooks]

Maybe just use clear? That what I do. Nice clean look but doesn't stand out.

BobbieB

[Jill Devine]

The choice is simple: unemployed with nice nails or employed with part-time plain nails. I'd choose employment.

[goodnhose]

I agree, take them off!

[Ann Thomas]

I'm at a new job now myself, having pondered the same question when I was called in for the first interview a couple of months ago. I was already working full time at another job, and I decided that I'd just go for it, being myself. Since the job had to be really awesome for me to move, and would have to accept me for who I am, I decided to take the gamble. I showed up with painted nails (clear with colored tips - can't remember which color now), clearly women' jeans and t-shirt (feminine pocket decorations, cap sleeves, etc). It was for a blue collar job in a shop dripping with testosterone.

It paid off, as during the first interview, the manager who was interviewing me said, "90% of our work is done for one company, and has been for about 40 years, and they come inspect the plant periodically. Part of that is to ensure we have diversity." For the second interview, the next day, I came a bit more feminine still. And the manger repeated the same statement to me. Needless to say, I got the job that day.

It's been an interesting place to work, and have had to put up with some ribbing, but it's been a better shop to work for than any other I've been at. It's union, too, so with the awesome benefits, it nearly doubled my pay. I have, to date, never worn anything male to work except for a gender neutral sweatshirt on a couple of cooler days just during the morning until it warmed up. Oh, and they have NO dress code, not even a requirement to wear steel toed boots, which is required in that kind of environment at all other shops I've worked at. Not even a ban on jewelry or hair containment (ie, long hair has to be up.)

At times I've been pretty daring in my nail paint, and always wear something, even if it has to be clear due to some other event after work. I work with my hands in water a lot, so my nails get soft and tear very easily, so I need the nail protection, anyway. I got the most comments when I painted my nails a really bright blue one day. The next day, one of the other guys showed up with his nails painted a variety of colors. It was kind of cool to get the support.

There's lots of tattoos worn in the shop, and I've told them if they can wear tattoos, I can wear nail polish, especially since I can change mine. But, they didn't invite me to the Ink and Iron show in Long Beach last month, even though it is organized by the owner's brother, and one of the guys had his dragster on display. So they put up with me, and are not yet willing to fully accept me as one of their own. Hopefully some day they'll understand. They think I'm gay, and I don't tell them otherwise. That puts me into a group of people who are known as hard workers and incredibly creative. I don't mind that at all.

Last week the people from the customer's company came by for the inspection. They lingered a long time at my station. Unfortunately my machine was down, as I was rebuilding the pump (an all day job), and couldn't spend time with them. Incredibly well-dressed, there were two men and a woman. The men kind of ignored me, but the woman stared into my eyes and smiled as I walked past them at one point, as if to say, "We appreciate you being here!" (There's no way she could have missed seeing my bra straps that day, as they were pretty obvious!)

So, hopefully something better than my story can happen to you! Good luck!

Hugs,
Ann

[Voulez-Vous]

Bringing up the subject after the fact could result in a job I'm not overall happy with, yes I'll have a paycheck but I won't be happy with my choice.

Sometimes I think people come up with posts like this just to stir things up around here.
Come on, people...this one is a no brainer...
Do you seriously want a chance at employment or NOT?
Seeking employment and cd-ing should never be used in the same sentence. Period.

[missyatl]

I assure you this isn't made up, it's a valid concern I'm looking for advice for. I'm in the IT field, I work in an office environment.

Thank you all for your advice, even some of the sarcasm, it made me laugh. Humor is a good thing!

[Robinkay]

I would follow the advice from the rest of the girl's.
You could just have them buffed....... That looks great also !
Good luck,hope you land it.

[sandra-leigh]

Seeking employment and cd-ing should never be used in the same sentence. Period.

I don't agree. But then I'm in a position not to have to.

It is my opinion that when it comes to voluntary employment, people have to take responsibility for their choice of whom to work for, and the social consequences of the work, and for the dignity of the working environment. There is no "I was only following orders" excuse in any situation in which you are not ordered by a court to work for a particular organization. If an organization has bad policies and you "hide yourself" to work for them, then by your labor you are making more profits for them and enabling them to continue on in their bad policies.

I live my life doing what I feel is right, not what I feel is convenient. And yes, I have turned down recruiting attempts to pursue what I thought was a better use of my life.

[Eryn]

What would a GG do? She'd want to make the best possible impression for the interview. She wouldn't wear anything out of the ordinary. She wouldn't, for example, wear bright orange nail polish as it wouldn't be "businesslike."

The same applies to you. Be the image of the person that the employer wants to hire. That's what your competition is doing. If you don't conform to that image you're very likely to be on the outside looking in.

Later, after you have proven your worth on the job, is the time to push limits.

[Thera Home]

I'm in the process of looking for another job which means I'll (hopefully) be having some interviews coming up here shortly. I don't know what to do about my nails, I keep them painted all the time now that my current employer verified it's not against any policy. I know the easiest thing to do is to take it off before any interview but this is a part of me I really enjoy and unlike clothes isn't something I can just put on/off on a whim. It's also something I'll want to continue with a new employer, so I'll have to cross that bridge at some point. So my questions are:

Do I be upfront from the very beginning and come to the interview with the polish?

(if so) What do I say about it?
If I take it off for the interview, when do I bring up the topic, in the interview or later?

I really value your feedback! Thank you!

Dear missyatl
As far as the nails go, dump them, get your foot in the door and chk out the environment and then make your more educated move.

Thera

[lingerieLiz]

If you are not working presently it would be wise to remove the polish. If you are looking to change environments then you might go as you wish to dress at work. Just don't go sloppy. It also depends on how good you are at your job. Are you good enough that an employer would hire you in spite of the potential personel issues you may bring to the company. Remember, people call around to check on applicants your appearance may be talked about.

[Lynn Marie]

Millissa Rose pretty much nailed this subject in a wonderfully succinct and clear way. Her reply doesn't get any better than that. I'll just try to add a little common sense from a marketplace point of view.

Think about it. If you are the best at what you do and there is a shortage of talent in the marketplace, then a few eccentricities are no big deal. The prospective employer needs you! If you're competing with a boatload of other highly qualified people then you need "sell yourself" as the best of the best. In that kind of a market, odd behavior and eccentricities will pretty much get you crossed off the list within the first minute of the interview. The prospective employer knows there are lot's of qualified candidates out there and there's just no need for him to hire someone with a slightly odd thing about painting his nails!

[bobbimo]

I have to agree with Kim.
Unless your going to apply in full femme, I would not do anything to put any strikes against you.