Well, would you? Be honest.
For those readers who can somehow avoid trashy media content, this is Kiwi “starlet” Kelsy Karter. You know Kelsy Karter; she sang that…song. And she was in that television series. No not that one, the other one. Still no idea? Well join the club. That is until she decided to employ Stevie Wonder to tattoo an image of another crap pop star on her cheek, and became Insta-famous overnight.
The image is of Harry Styles obviously (not that poor fella from The Goonies) who is another pop star, albeit a more famous one. According to sources, this tattoo isn’t a hoax or a joke, and was inspired by Mr Styles “opening the door” for other pop stars with aspirations of being rock stars;
“What I love about him from a professional standpoint is that he was the poppiest of pop stars, and then he went off on his own and made a classic rock album,”
Whether his eponymous debut album ranks up there with Revolver or Exile on Main St is yet to be seen. Personally, and between you an I, I have my doubts. What we can all agree on however, is that regardless of the huge boost in public profile, she has sadly detracted from what was an attractive face. If we remove the short term commercial impact on her fledgling career, having Ray Charles scribble on you with a permanent marker is what the English would call “very silly”.
So this lack of sound judgment brings me back to my initial question; If you were hiring and a recruiter showed up to take the job brief with the aforementioned facial decoration, how would you feel? Or if you were a candidate who crammed your ballooning waistline into an old suit for your interview with the agency, would you have faith that ol’ biro-face could represent you faithfully and professionally?
I’ll go first. I probably wouldn’t. Actually, I definitely wouldn’t. I say that as someone with very visible tattoos, a penchant for the t-shirt over the collar, and a propensity towards frequent eccentric and awkward outbursts. I also recognise that as liberal as I try to be, I am a judgemental prick. I can tell myself that someone who makes bad life decisions will also make bad judgment calls during the recruitment process, but again, I’m actually spouting bullshit.
I am not particularly political, however, I certainly have a preference. Many of my friends and probably most of my clients have very different political leanings to me. And when they go to their polling station, who they vote for directly effects me. Yep, their inability to comprehend that one major political party is run by reptilian shapeshifters means that I may have to suffer directly under an immoral government. Talk about bad judgement calls. Yet, still they are my friends, clients, and candidates. It certainly has a bigger impact on me and the world than a tattoo. Good people, who are good at what they do, make decisions that we as individuals disagree with. Most people have a friend who married a dreadful human. Call me ol’ fashioned, but marriage is kinda for life. Would you allow this friend to help you oil your deck, or should his or her terrible life decisions keep them away from the Cabot’s Exterior Stain? And let’s face it, nothing is forever these days. Both a bad tattoo and unpleasant spouse can be removed by a high-powered laser.
As for our industry, I’m yet to meet a recruiter with a facial tattoo (eyebrow microblading doesn’t count ladies), so this is purely theoretical. However, like the slow creep of an invasive weed, tattoos on recruiters are slowly emerging from below the t-shirt line. They’re appearing behind ears, on wrists, and in one instance I know of, on a neck. Give it two years and I’ll know of a recruiter with something scrawled above the eyebrow. I guarantee it.
Hopefully I’ll be less of a judgemental prick by then.
^SW
