For the cheap price of a permanent tatto, get access to job interview

24 points by NoRagrets 31 days ago | 15 comments

A recent YC Startup School afterparty is making the rounds on LinkedIn.

7 people came to the YC after party left with permanent tattoos.

Lemon Lime had invited a tattoo artist to their office. Anyone willing to get the company’s logo tattooed immediately received a job interview.Seven people walked away with permanent tattoos.

Offering someone a job interview in exchange for getting a permanent tattoo is unethical.

The issue isn’t that seven adults chose to get tattooed. It’s that an employer tied access to a career opportunity to an irreversible change to someone’s body.

Is it really ‘consent’? There is an inherent power imbalance between companies and job seekers, especially in highly competitive environments like YC. That makes “consent” far more complicated than simply saying yes.

A great company should hire people for their talent, judgment and character…not their willingness to permanently mark themselves for a chance at an interview.

A line was crossed. And it’s a YC company. Is the job market so awful? How is this even legal?

ungreased0675 31 days ago |

I would absolutely never hire someone that impulsive and/or gullible.

paulcole 31 days ago |

They didn’t say they weren’t going to interview untattooed people.

It’s a lame stunt but this is just looking for something to get upset over.

I would do it if the company was one I was excited about.

I’m 45-ish and got my first tattoo this year. It’s a big eagle holding a bagel on my forearm. The coffee shop (their name is also on the tattoo) I go to said they’d give me free cold brew for life if I got it.

al_borland 31 days ago | |

> I would do it if the company was one I was excited about.

And what happens if you don’t get the job? You’d have a daily reminder of a bad interview and the job you failed to get. For someone with a ton of tattoos, maybe it doesn’t matter, just a funny story. For others, it could be a much bigger deal.

With the coffee shop, you get coffee for life, the life of the company, or the tenure of the owner/manger who agreed to it. With the job interview, you’re not guaranteed a job a life. Just an interview, and for all anyone knows, that tattoo stunt could have been a way to weed out people who were too desperate or make questionable decisions. So they’d get a short interview as a formality, but were never in the running for an actual job.

paulcole 31 days ago | | |

> And what happens if you don’t get the job?

I don’t get the job.

Not getting the job doesn’t mean the interview was bad. And if it was a bad interview, life goes on.

You’re right that nothing is guaranteed in life. But you can do what you want and react to stuff how you want.

vunderba 31 days ago | |

> I would do it if the company was one I was excited about.

Never would I ever do something like that. Doesn't matter how excited a company makes me, I'm not turning my body into a biological billboard. Different (brush) strokes for different folks I guess.

Even though anatomically it doesn't really work out that way, when I was a kid I always wanted to get a tattoo of a plant along my calf so that it would look like the plant was growing as I got taller over the years.

Tangentially, there are also studies suggesting a possible statistical association between tattoo ink and an increased risk of certain cancers, such as lymphoma. Shocker, subepidermally injected permanent pigments may not be good for you.

paulcole 31 days ago | | |

There’s probably some downside to drinking 14 cold brews a week, too.

Everything’s a risk if you look hard enough.

notrustincloud 31 days ago | |

How many cups of cold brew until the 'break even' point for the cost of the tattoo? or did the coffee shop provide the artist and ink? im just curious about the economics of permanent advertising space. how many years has the shop been open? i ask because the failure rate for coffee shops etc is heavily weighted in the first decade of being open, so 'for life' might be a stretch.

paulcole 31 days ago | | |

Tattoo was $375-ish (I paid) and cold brew is $5.50. I kind of saw it as a hedge against inflation as well. Figured they’d be $7 before too long.

I got the tattoo done by the artist who designed it (the shop puts up a lot of local art). She thought it was funny and was excited to do it. I think it looks sick.

My average ticket has actually gone up because they started selling house-made bagel chips and I tip pretty generously. So it’s more been a fun thing than a money saver.

This place has been open for ~10 years and I’ve been going regularly since 2020-ish. My total spend there since start of 2020 is $11,700.

And my girlfriend has been threatening to tell the owner to take cold brew off the menu if I don’t keep up with my household chores. I didn’t see that one coming.

progforlyfe 31 days ago |

I would NOT get tattooed for a job interview. I WOULD get tattooed for a JOB. Yes I'm that desperate. YES This is highly unethical.

NoRagrets 31 days ago |

the comments to this post is proof that hackernews is no longer worthy of its reputation. for shame!

zerohp 31 days ago |

Questionable behavior from YC companies is nothing new.

amazingamazing 31 days ago |

How is an adult consenting to getting a tattoo legal? Is that your question? The rest is filler.