I was thinking about…

When Attitude Overshadows Appearance

By Andy Lee

There’s a viral video making the rounds showing a young woman covered in tattoos and piercings, including some quite striking facial/neck ink. She’s expressing confusion at not getting hired by TJ Maxx, insinuating her appearance must have been the deciding factor against her.

Initially, I’ll admit my knee-jerk reaction leaned towards validating her assumption. Major companies do sometimes discriminate, consciously or not, against candidates with extremely visible body modifications like face tattoos depicting darker imagery. And TJ Maxx certainly reserves the right to hire based on whatever criteria meets their brand standards.

But after the woman doubled down in a follow up video ranting about the situation, something changed in my assessment. Because it became abundantly clear her attitude represented the bigger red flag to any prudent hiring manager – not merely her aesthetic choices.

See, in the first clip she came across as reasonably articulate and focused on pleading her case about assumptions over appearance. Fair and understandable given our society’s frequent unfair judgments in that arena. But the sequel video abandoned ration perspective for an aggressively entitled, confrontational stance actively daring employers to dismiss her over superfluous traits.

And that toxic combination – someone convinced of their own uncompromising correctness mixed with defiantly projecting an off-putting, argumentative persona? Well, those bright neon behavioral warnings would give most professionals looking for team-oriented hires serious pause regardless of how candidates present on the surface.

Because skills and job responsibilities can always be taught to willing learners. But marginal talents with intensely abrasive, unmanageable attitudes rapidly become cancers souring entire workplace cultures from the inside out over time. No manager savvy enough to climb into hiring decision authority reached that level without recognizing those oils-and-waters dynamics with eerie precision.

So, while appearance may indeed arbor unspoken biases occasionally affecting hiring processes negatively, dangerous personalities represent arguably the biggest disqualifying factor in most cases. It’s simply not worth the cultural risks gambling on candidates sending up such loud identity inflexibility alerts right out of the gates.

Does that mean unconventional personal expressions disqualify applicants automatically across the board? Of course not – countless proudly individualistic talents thrive when they focus on showcasing substance over petulantly projecting edgy confrontation. But quite reasonably, defiantly advertising resistance to any feedback or directional coaching seldom wins over forward-thinking organizations seeking collaborative team players willing to grow.

At the end of the day, most managers prioritize assembling rosters complementing already-healthy workplace energies rather than wagering on potential locker-room grenade launcher additions. And based on the sobering attitudinal contrast between this young woman’s original restraint versus her defiantly toxic follow-up video? Any hiring strategist worth their salt likely reached the same straightforward conclusion:

Hard pass on THAT combustible mix, no matter how uniquely she adorns her outer canvas. Distinct aesthetics only get you so far when your uncompromising anger radiates that deeply from the inside out.

Stay humble, keep developing! 💪