I am 28 and about 30 years younger than most of the people I work with.
Recently, we interviewed someone who was around my age, maybe a bit younger. To me, she seemed polished, professional, well spoken, etc.
One of the other interviewers (male, probably 55-60) mentioned that he noticed that she had pierced ears but wasn't wearing earrings. He took this as a sign that she wasn't well put-together/detail oriented/etc. The other interviewers - three more - didn't disagree with him.
Is this a generational thing? If you have pierced ears, so you always wear earrings? I wear them probably 4 days out of a 5 day week... but sometimes I don't, and now I'm afraid of who may be noticing and what they think about it.
FWIW, she got the job. It was an observation, not anything more than that.
Re: Jewelry in the workplace... potentially a dumb ?
What a sexist, assholeish comment to make.
To answer your question I do wear earrings every day, but not in all of the holes I've punched in my ears over the years (there are a lot). I'd hate to think a potential interviewer would overlook everything else about me and my resume to fixate on some small and totally optional aspect of my personal appearance and potentially use it against me.
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I think that's a weird observation. I mean, I do think that often earrings can help an outfit, but if you're worried about over accessorizing or an outfit being to busy, etc, I think some people would leave earrings off. If the rest of the person's outfit was professional, I would hardly say that a lack of earrings means she doesn't know how to be detailed oriented. I think he was making a stretch to try to look more observative/thinking outside the box, but... no.
That being said, I work in an almost exclusively female office where no professional dress code is enforced, so I may not have the best point of view.
I don't always wear earrings. I also have pierced ears. I would have asked point blank why he thought it meant that it didn't mean that she wasn't well put together.
Usually, when I don't wear earrings, it's because I didn't think to put them in. They are an accessory, not a necessary part of my wardrobe. A "lack of detail" would have been something like mismatched socks.
I'm in HR and I interview a lot. the only time I can ever remember noticing that a person had a pierced hole that was now empty was when interviewing men.
OMG I have seen this... or "open toed shoes are inappropriate unless worn with suntan pantyhose."
I think jeans and cute flats look better any day.
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Usually, when I don't wear earrings, it's because I didn't think to put them in. They are an accessory, not a necessary part of my wardrobe.
This.
I usually do wear make up and might put on earnings for a job interview so I feel better about how I look, but not because I thought anyone else would notice silly stuff like that. I would ask that guy if he always wears a pocket square when he wears a jacket with a front pocket.
I typically only wear jewelry if I'm going out at night, except for my wedding ring. Its just one more thing to think about in the morning that I don't really need. I feel like I'm obligated to look nice and professional in an office, which doesn't require accessories or make up. I've never had a job working with the public so maybe I have different standards.
All of this- I have severe metal allergies. I didn't even wear earrings on my wedding day because I didn't want to deal with peeling earlobes on my honeymoon. I'll occasionally put in a pair of gold diamond studs for a night out
I wonder if he would criticize a woman for not wearing nail polish, just because she has nails?
Ha, actually, this sort-of came up. He noticed that her nails were nicely painted.
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In my previous consulting role I found by far that men will get hung-up on the most oddest things in interviews. I also noticed the detail escalated proportionally with the $$$.
My clients have referred to candiates as 'the one with the fake nails,' 'the one with the cheap shoes' 'bad haircut" and so on.
I spent many a days reminding these men that we were NOT interviewing people to marry! *sigh*
wow.
I have 2 holes in each ear and I never wear earrings. I have a really hard time finding earrings that I don't have a reaction to so I just don't wear them.
that is really weird that he would notice such a thing & how that translates into she's not put together I really don't understand.
That is obviously a comment from a male who has no idea what it's like to wear earrings, or why women wear them or why they don't on any given day.
I have pierced ears, but I very rarely wear earrings. I might wear them more often if I had a pair of casual ones like small posts or hoops, but I don't have any and haven't for years. Then again, my typical workplace is outdoors doing fieldwork on a National Forest or Wildlife Refuge or something like that, and earrings aren't really part of the outfit.
Also, my ears seem to get irritated and sore when I wear earrings so I only wear them when I need to dress nicely for something. It might go away if I wore them more often and toughened up my holes, but who really knows until I try it!