Mustache or No Mustache

[FurloughedAgain]

Ok: Stupid question of the week.

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to grow a mustache, just to see what it looks like. (You know... Michael Knight, Garth Knight evil twin type thing)

So I grew the mustache and I keep it fairly neatly trimmed etc.

Wife got used to it. I got used to it. and, a month or so ago I decided to shave it.

Well when I shaved it I was shocked at how LARGE my nose had suddenly become!!! (which gave me an idea as to other things to shave, but thats another story entirely)

So I re-grew the mustache.

So here's my question then -- If you have a job interview coming up: Mustache or no Mustache?

I want to look clean-cut and employable, but i'd rather not shave the stache'

So... what do you guys think?

 

[bart]

I do not know of unconscious or outright bias against lack of facial hair.

I have heard of unconscious and outright bias against facial hair.

So if I was in Vegas, I would bet on the guy without facial hair, all things being equal.

But, it will leave you with a great item to rationalize if you don't get the job, as in "I would have gotten the job, but they discriminate against guys with facial hair."

 

[Lead Sled]

FWIW, some O2 masks carry warnings that they will not seal with facial hair. That could be an issue at some places and with some types of equipment.

Lead Sled

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

It makes for an evil look, and the mask won't seal. As much as I love to go unshaven for days, or even grow a full beard one day, I'd keep it clean for the dance.

 

[SMOE]

Somewhere along the way someone in power, somewhere, decided any facial hair is untidy and unprofessional and unfortunately its become the standard of corporate America. Warped bast*&ds!!!!!

I would recommend the clean look. Once your hired, you could always grow it back. Unfortunately because of the O2 mask thing, if a company does allow a moustache, its usually required to be trimmed down to a cheesy version of what Adolph wore in '44 and isn't worth growing at all.

 

[surplus1]

FWIW, some O2 masks carry warnings that they will not seal with facial hair. That could be an issue at some places and with some types of equipment.

Lead Sled

You know I've heard that talk for more years than I'm willing to admit and I've even seen those labels on some masks. Nevertheless, I flew as captain on large an medium jets for more than 12 years with both a moustache and a full beard. At no time did my mask ever fail to seal. Others like me, both in my own and other airlines never had this problem either. I think it's one of those many myths we carry around.

European carriers don't seem to have this "no seal" problem, so maybe Boeing and Douglas, et al, designed special masks for them?

Regarding the interview -- if it's a US Carrier, shave the moustache and grow it back after you're hired. We have to conform to what others believe, even when it's stuff and nonsense. It's the American way.

PS. The Europeans aren't smart enough to know that masks leak around beards or moustaches so, they don't (leak).

 

[pilotyip]

Mustache

Wear it to the interview, if it is neatly trimmed it should not have any effect. When you go to an interview you will see all these guys with white upper lips, now does that look weird. I wore my to my UAL interview, did not get hired, but then again my log book was off by 38 hours in 10,500 and that was the end of that interview. Different story

 

[HAL]

Mid 90's - had a mustache, interviewed for CFI, got the job.

Late 90's - got first couple regional interviews, shaved mustache, didn't get jobs. Regrew mustache, passed next interview at CHQ. Kept mustache, offered job with Hawaiian.

2003 - furloughed, interviewed (still w/mustache) at AWA, offered job.

Go figure.

The restriction on facial hair with O2 masks applies to beards, not mustaches, because the sealing edge of the mask is around the face, not around the lips.

Side note - even got to grow a full beard while flying Navajos in Fairbanks last winter (before going to AWA), but considered it more necessary than fashonable at -50F.

HAL

 

[Dep676]

How you suppose to give the wife a mustache ride without one?

 

[HAZ-MAT]

I'm not 30 yet, but when i get around that age then i'll grow one.

 

[side stick-n]

Normally shave the mustache and leave the piercings in. I've never gotten I job so I don't know if it makes a difference or not.........


I've always thought that if you don't have any facial hair, the interviewer doesn't have to decide whether it looks neat or not. The fewer decisions, the better. It has worked for me all 4 times in the past 24 years. If you are less tan above the lip, I say it shows you are willing to shave that 'stache off, which obviously had been around for a while, to indicate you really want the job.......

 

[njcapt]

I've had a mustache for the last 23 years since I was 17. I shaved it off a couple of weeks before my United interview back in 1995, which didn't affect the outcome at all. Since then, I've showed up at six interviews with it and got an offer after five of them.

The O2 mask stuff is BS. I have never had a problem with sealing even when my grooming has been less than perfect.

 

[Swede]

Not directed at you Furloughed, but be sure you have a genuine adult "MAN BEARD" vs scraggly and patchy teen beard. My daughter keeps hanging around with boys with just enough testosterone to grow facial hair longer than 1/8". Being he-men, they grow a goatee or whatever, only to be a thin and sad affair. If you can't grow a thick 'stache (think "Lonesome Dove"), then it's better left clean.

 

[Swaayze]

shave....and don't wait 'til the day before. It'll grow back.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

Shave it a week or two prior. Don't consider going to an interview with facial hair. It's stupid that it can make a difference, but too many folks out there view it as an interview given in this country to risk sitting across the table from an HR moron who buys into the clean-shaven mantra. Sheesh, it'll only take you a week or two to grow it back.

PS, if you are a mustashio'ed degree-less helo pilot, I know where you can find a job.

 

[pilotyip]

Send them over

I only have one helo guy in our next class and darn it he has a degree. Plus all those Air Force fixed wing guys I hired also had their degrees. I tell you the degree has become so common, it is hard to find someone without one.

 

[dispatcher121]

To be quite honest, I've worked for carriers who REQUIRE a clean shaved face for pilots (didn't apply to women). They expected the candidate to "dress accordingly" for the interview. You just might want to check out their company requirements.