Undreaded and dreaded folks, I have a question for the both of you

One of the top questions I receive about my baby locks include: "How are you going to get a job?" (or something like it).

I want to know if anyone with dreads has had any expereinces dealing with potential employer. (good or bad)

OR

If anyone here would deny a person of a job based soley on the premise of their knotty hair.

 

Maybe if I was running a shampoo company, I would think twice about hiring a dreaded person. But it's hard to say because i'm sure if I ever did run a shampoo company I would be terrible at it, so why listen to me?

 

I've never had a problem. As long as you present yourself well..know a bit about the company, can speak complete sentences..etc.. you should be good.
Perhaps I've had good luck(I've loved all the jobs I've had while I had locks) But ya gotta know.. some ppl are just misinformed. If you happen to notice an interviewer STARING with a questionable look on his face, open the dialogue about your hair. Over the years you wouldn't believe how many ppl question me about my hair. Some just don't know.
Really I don't believe you'll have a problem..and if you don't get "that" job, perhaps it just wasn't meant to be

 

The answer to that question, both to random people and potential employers, should (at least for me) be that if they where hiring your hair, you would have written that on the application. If they're hiring YOU to do a job, your hair has nothing to do with it, and if they disagree with your hair that's fine, but if they disagree with it and let that bleed over into their assessment of the quality of your work you'll find a more honest employer.

If it factors into how you use my opinion, I had neglect locks, currently have a respectable haircut, because I didn't apply to go to court and have to make whatever sacrifice it takes to make them happy, my freedom is more important than my hairs freedom.

 

one reason I've never gotten dreads is because I am afraid I'll have a hard time finding job.

It would be easy to find a service-industry type job probably, but people can be very close minded in a professional setting. I have long wavy hair and when I go on job interviews I make an effort to blow dry it, straighten it, style it and try to make it look as professional as possible, but sometimes I still feel as if potential employers see my long hair and think "oh god, long hair, this girl's a hippie, not a professional."

I guess it depends on what industry you're trying to get a job in. Some fields are more straight laced and conservative than others.

 

Got a job while I had dreads, was never an issue (it's a shitty manual job btw)

JimboWizbo is an engineer and he has dreads (I too will one day be an engineer with dreads)

 

Ah, this is why I love Australia

 

Dread-heads are only accepted in certain sectors, so:

a) don't work in a sector where it isn't accepted and then start growing a mop ... that's misrepresentation, and your bosses / managers will hold you back for it

... in fact, just don't misrepresent in any way when it comes to the work-world ... people like to own the thing they bought, not find out down the line that they paid for one thing and received another

b) don't try finding work in a sector where it isn't accepted if you already are on a 'dread path' ... you'll be wasting your time coming up against more than just a single person's perspective ... every work place has it's own work ethic, which relates to it's sector

… convincing one person in a dread-unfriendly environment does not mean you are home, you will still have the rest to contend with month after month

c) if you are a dready and in a dread-unfriendly sector, move .... only after a while of sitting in a stagnant role, will the penny drop that you are the token 'weirdo' and that is about as serious as your peers will ever take you.

Realities of life:

a) although many don't see it, society is zoned according to different people. It's got nothing to do with just the hairstyle aspect, it's about what type of person fits where ... so don't bother trying to wear the shoe on both feet, it's only your own future you are harming

b) Being dread and wanting to work at a bank is the same as being a priest and wanting a job running drugs; not saying it doesn't happen, just saying it's pointless and won't do any good in the long term

… unless the priest got sick of being a priest and really wanted to run drugs … but for the other priests it would be career damaging

c) most importantly, don't put any further thought into the way it is ... from a young age we are brain-washed into believing we can ‘all be this and that’ and ‘yes we can’ ... that's bullsh*t and that's all there is to it

d) no one has a more successful career than those that know who they are and where they belong

... “Know Thyself”

D

 

DonBK... I have to say, if you know your job and you kick ass at your job, you can be the token weirdo who knows his shit backwards and forwards, you should do just fine. When people get to know you and know your locks you should be alright, they get used to it.

Yeah, there's roadblocks... I haven't even applied for a job that didn't involve an anvil while sporting locks, but having had to worm my way into other things with neglect locks, and half formed ones at that, you can generally up the ante by directing things back to the work. If they care more about your hair than the job, you're more serious about the job than them anyway, and can do better than them for a boss, and you can subtly say this to their face and if they would make a good boss, it will get you some respect, or at least a chance.

Just sayin'. I don't think that you have to choose one little part of "you" to act on, you can be the full package and as long as you do every part of that package well, you're golden.

 

BLOODY GOOD POST, Get's A Well Deserved Rep From GLEN...:2thumbsup:



Cheers Glen.


EDIT:- Whoooops, It Tells Me I Have To Spread My Ass Even Wider....

 

I had one job interview for a summer internship when I had my old fatty dreads, I didn't get the job, but I think I cocked up the interview anyway.

I started my current dreads after a year of employment and it hasn't held me back (second payrise in 2 years on it's way). In fact people have approached me to ask if I'll attend careers fairs and represent the company.


I do agree that an identical, but more presentable candidate would stand a better chance of getting the job. Your interviewer will make assumptions based on your appearance, and they don't have to use that as the reason you didn't get the job.

 

LOL ... one can either take on board what I mentioned, or dust it under the carpet; not up to me ... however, defining reality with words like 'if' and 'should' won't support any argument either

D

 

G, i'm surprised ... how, at your age, can you still support such an idealist notion?

D

 

AT MY AGE.??? I'm Still Months Off Turning 20 *in metric*, There Are Many, Many, Years

Left In My Life To Aquire "Wisdom"....

I Am But A Fledgling "Grasshopper"....



Cheers Glen.

 

....I used to settle. As I've gotten older, I've seen what that's done to the world.

Nah, I never REALLY settled... but a lot more than I do now.

How can we build something better if we shy away because it's not better YET?

 

HAHAHA G, you are crazy man

... but i guess it beats being a grumpy old fart ...

 

We can't, and not for lack of trying either

Entire generations have given it a shot already ... but it can't be done, because we actually have absolutely no control over the world we live in ... and after experiencing more than 20 years of political activism, civil disobedience and direct action, I have accepted that.

But that too is misleading ... I have some degrees in politics, and working towards another ... so playing games with the system is actually a career interest ... at a push, if i get locked up, i'll write a book and make money.

Which brings me to the point, don't challenge this reality unless it is lucrative ... get what i mean ... no one is really challenging anything, people are generally just reacting to what is good for them and what is not, like pavlov’s dog

It's impossible to break the rules of this reality, unless you created them ... rather learn what the rules are and use them to your advantage. This is essentially the difference between trying to control the world you live in and being in control of yourself

It is what it is ... and those that know what that is, are those that can make the most of it.

D

EDIT: Look at the push by eco-hippies over the past 2o years to get accepted by main-stream politics, a place where they clearly don't belong ... they jumped on the climate change band-wagon and hey before you know, they marketed themselves as the saviours of the world because they have all the answers to the environmental problems of the future

Now, with the 'off-planet' data that has been retrieved in recent years by objective scientists, many professionals have come to realise that this new sector called environmental management was nothing but a fraud … and actually cost our world more than it has gained from the experience.

So what is happening over the past 2-3 years is that environmental management has been removed from the realm of climate change, which was the foundation of its existence to begin with … and demoted / de-prioritised to eco and sustainability issues within the wider developmental sector.

So environmentalists are f*cked basically … they are no longer acknowledged in the climate change realm, because that area is now in the hands of rational scientists and the mainstream political-economy … and they can’t get work in the developmental areas either, because, well that’s a sector that is in the hands of rational scientists and the mainstream political-economy.

So why is this an issue … because this all started out when people that did not belong in a certain sector pushed and pushed to get accepted by those in it, only to have confirmed so many years later that they should never have been let in.

But the world has been buying into all sorts of crap that came out of the eco-bias minds of the environmentalists over the years, like solar panels which are useless in light of the true nature of current and future solar activity.

Another example … Rage Against The machine … there was no way they would have gotten onto a major label if they did not misrepresent themselves. So they got their 4 album deal and then realised the reality of their dishonesty … it bit them in their own butts

For years, RATM stretched out that album deal; to benefit (politically, financially, whatever) off being on a major label as long as possible … why … cause after their little stunt, no major label, especially the one they were on, would ever touch them again. So they took it as far as they could and fizzled out

… now if they perform any of the material live, it can’t be recorded or broadcasted as their major label owns their music, and essentially owns them

The end result, RATM is nothing more than their own ‘tribute band’ … and no major label will touch them …

and more importantly … any other musical act that has a political slant

So …

… was it beneficial, in the long run, for a bunch of hippies to insist, push and bullsh*t their way into a work sector that they never belonged in?

… was it beneficial, in the long run, for a bunch of revolutionary musicians to con their way into a work sector that they never belonged in?

D

 

Yeah, it's too bad RATM sold themselves short, instead of making their own label and re-defining the system they raged about, especially while other bands where doing precisely this.

It's also too bad that those who care about the planet and it's well-being are all sidlined because of a few nut-jobs, and a few corporate puppet-masters, though I don't quite agree with you about the specifics of that.

The part of your post that struck me was:

"It's impossible to break the rules of this reality, unless you created them ... rather learn what the rules are and use them to your advantage. This is essentially the difference between trying to control the world you live in and being in control of yourself"

Because that happens to be exactly what I'm doing. I'm working to start a local political movement, because the area I live in lends itself perfectly to it. I intend to begin following the little rules for the sake of LEGALLY breaking the big ones, and re-writing most of the rule-book.

(about the "use them to your advantage" part.... the only advantage I want is the advantage necessary to destroy that rule related advantage)

Will my political movement take over the world? No, it would take a lot of OTHER idealists to do that. But I think it just might have a fighting chance here. And again, either way, you've got to do the right thing, be true to yourself and practice what you preach. Idealism is the cure for the illness you described.

If this doesn't read very well I'm sorry, I'm pretty fucking tired and not proofreading it.

 

Of course. Just because they are not doing hard science doesn't mean they aren't doing good. More than anything the world needs education about environmental issues, and who better to do that than informed hippies? Scientists are poor communicators. There is so much misinformation going round, especially about climate change, because scientists don't know how to put it into language everyone can understand, and I think hippies are doing a great job raising awareness, though it's a tough job and the war hasn't been won yet. Arrogance and greed is a tough enemy to fight, you can't do it with science alone. And you can't do it with the media which has most often an anti-science, pro-economy and anti-environment agenda.

 

Cool, good luck ... it should be exciting ... political groups can be fun, you get to meet a lot of like-minded people

D