I’m worried my appearance will jeopardise my career opportunities. Should I modify my look to fit in? | Body image

I am a woman in the mid -1940s. For the best part of the nodes, I had very short hair. It is comfortable and easy to maintain and I really like a slight look – I always did it. Last year, I dyed a variety of colors (purple, red and orange) as it grows quickly. My short hair also reveals another aspect of me: I wear hearing devices. I don’t care about strangers who know the deafness. If people can easily see my hearing tools, this means that I do not have to “go out” myself to every new person I meet.

It is only concerned with me as I want to think about applying for a new job. The “other” appearance and the deaf are not necessarily assets when entering this market. When I was previously hunting jobs I had longer hair and hearing better. The field in which I currently work is completely conservative and dominated by males. Should I adjust my epithelial to fit and be traditional, or to be honest with myself, I work for my long -term?

Elianor says: Two things we know: the appearances should not be important; Cuting your hair or color is not an indication of talent, and it is completely illegal to treat your auditory help. But manifestations are often important. Each option tells people how to read us, even the option to avoid aesthetic options.

I just hope to say: “Be you! But you are right that excellence can cost you opportunities, or make you receive as one of the “alternative”. Some places are so frightening that an interesting sock boldness is enough to make you anti -culture. I know a man who missed a job because he has a detailed tattoo. Without knowing more about your field or professional opportunities, I can not just say, “Be the change you want to see”, as much as I hope we all do.

I think the best question is where you want to draw the line. Most of us are not complete ourselves at work. But this is not always bad. Sometimes, the work situation allows you to try versions of yourself that you do not face anywhere, and leave some parts of yourself how to get it. Sometimes people are able to be more professional, more directly, more forced to shrink, or more towards the task, and more absorbed into something. Many people have aspects of themselves only plan to work completely. This will not happen if it is expected that we will be completely normal at work. Leaving personal life, jokes, or flexible shirts at home is a way to change ourselves to suit them, but this is a change that allows us to reach a copy of ourselves that appreciate existence. Sometimes, it allows you to allocate certain parts of yourself to fully inhabit others.

At other times, although allocating parts of yourself looks like a surrender. Deep values ​​or parts that you achieved hard from our personality or self -presentation: some things feel panic to provide for others, even if it is only temporary.

I think the question is: Will you make your hair grow and cover your own hearing devices you feel a copy of yourself, or less like yourself? Will you make you feel that you control the impression you make or control?

No one should expect who you are at work to represent all of you. You should not think about it yourself. It’s okay to make changes that make your life easier. On an equal footing, some changes do not make life easier – they make it smaller. If this is the type of choice that is presented, then it is not you who needs to be changed.

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