Medical Sales and Tattoos - Advice needed!

Hi guys!

Looking for a bit of advice , and I'm not quite sure where to ask it but this place looks as good as any.. :smile:

Right i'm a male sports science graduate who is looking to get into medical sales, more specifically orthopaedics/ sports medicine. Im in the interview process with one of the market leaders and doing well. Had 2 interview stages so far and had to do product demonstrations and pitches etc and its now down to the final 3 candidates.

As part of the next stage i need to shadow one of their current medical reps in the field. Part of which will involve being in theatre and obviously wearing scrubs. I have a few tattoos - roses on my ribs, a dragon (thats in the removal process) on my right shoulder and a buddhas head on the inside of my upper right arm. Now the buddhas head comes down to just shy of my elbow joint so will be visible in scrubs, although not hugely as its on the inner side.

I dont want anything to go against me if it really is neck and neck between the 3 potential candidates the smallest thing could make or break it. Am i worrying about nothing? Do you think that as a medical sales rep a partially visible tattoo would put me in a bad light? Im thinking of perhaps wearing a white long sleeve under armour top on the day i'm shadowing and just fold it up to the elbows so i'd still be abiding by the bare below the elbows rule and nothing would be visible. Would this even be allowed in theatre?

Sorry if this seems a strange question. Just don't want people to be making assumptions about me when it could actually make a big difference in my future!

Reply 1

345rty

12

I think your best bet will probably be to find some suitably womanly individual to go to town with the make up for the shadowing day to try and hide the bottom end of the buddah. Bear in mind they may be spotted in the changing rooms also, but making an effort to hide the thing shouldn't so far as I can see reflect badly.

Whilst there undoubtedly could be a debate about whether it should be influential, under your circumstances I wouldn't want any risk that it could be influential.

Whilst the underarmour might be a goer, the pods can be particularly arsey about infection control if opening joints (and rightly so in fairness) and I think trying to hide it with makeup would be a far safer bet.

Reply 2

alex193

17

Long sleeves in theatre is an absolute no-no; you'd either be politely asked to leave or utterly chewed out by the biggest scariest orthopaedic caveman you've ever met. Look up tattoo concealer - it's like an extra thick foundation makeup that should cover it nicely.
In terms of the rep job, you may well end up in theatre at some point, so it would be worth looking into getting it removed if you get the job rather than messing around with body paint ever day - that is, if you can bear to part with it!
Good luck with the job application :smile:

Reply 3

Unders88

OP

Original post by alex193

Long sleeves in theatre is an absolute no-no; you'd either be politely asked to leave or utterly chewed out by the biggest scariest orthopaedic caveman you've ever met. Look up tattoo concealer - it's like an extra thick foundation makeup that should cover it nicely.
In terms of the rep job, you may well end up in theatre at some point, so it would be worth looking into getting it removed if you get the job rather than messing around with body paint ever day - that is, if you can bear to part with it!
Good luck with the job application :smile:

Would long sleeves rolled up to the elbows not be ok with the theatre dress code? It seems individual trusts have their own set of codes but most seem to be if your in direct contact with patients(which i wont be) then its bare below the elbows. I think i might ring my recruiter and get some advice..

Reply 4

Helenia

20

Original post by Unders88

Would long sleeves rolled up to the elbows not be ok with the theatre dress code? It seems individual trusts have their own set of codes but most seem to be if your in direct contact with patients(which i wont be) then its bare below the elbows. I think i might ring my recruiter and get some advice..

It depends - in my theatres you are not allowed to wear anything underneath your scrub top that can be seen.

I wouldn't worry about that tattoo tbh, it's not offensive and it's only going to be minimally visible if you pick large enough scrub.

Reply 5

345rty

12

Its worth regarding scrubs less as a dress code and more of a means of removing any carrier of infection from outside short of sheep dipping all staff (I'm sure the infection control drones would try this one if they could).

Were it a dress code the skirt scrubs might be more acceptable, but in actual fact its not unheard of at all for some people to refuse to have staff who wear them in their theatre [apparently due to some a paper about increased levels of faecal coliforms in the air in departments that use them].

I shall repeat my vote for the tattoo concealer.

Reply 6

Maxxie

15

I agree with Helenia, most of it will be covered by the scrubs and it's not offensive - so I doubt it'll be an issue. Also, when I worked in a hospital a few of my colleagues had tattoos on the forearms and no one cared.

Good luck!

(edited 10 years ago)

Medical Sales and Tattoos - Advice needed!

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