The young lady at the checkout counter greeted me with a cheery, 鈥淗ow鈥檚 your day going?鈥� I replied that it had been a good day so far, and observed that she was in a good mood herself.

Along with her smile and conversation she was sporting a very unique haircut. She was shaven close on the sides and the back with a big wave of hair left on top. The wave was multi-coloured, teal blue, red and yellow.

鈥淚t looks like you have your summer haircut,鈥� I offered.

鈥淵ou bet,鈥� she replied.

鈥淢y son liked it so much he had me take him in and get the same cut and colour.鈥�

I liked her boldness and her individuality. She wore it well, but accented it all with her personality.

Too many times you see someone with a funky hair style or facial jewelry or makeup, wearing it all like a weapon and the look on their face tells us they are just begging for us to say something so they can come back with a caustic remark.

These days, pretty much anything goes and prospective employers are careful not to let on that the big ring through her lip or the skull tattoos running up his arm onto his neck and face are the reason they are not getting a second interview.

As one human resources professional explains, there is still a major culture gap between older employers and the new people entering the work force.

Despite how mainstream they are today, tattoos have historically become associated with prisoners, gang members, and other types of people who aren鈥檛 upstanding citizens.

Mind you, the prospective job applicant can do a bit of research before going to the interview.

Covering up nasty words or naked bodies might just help get that teaching job and if your tattoos involve a lot of characters and words from another language you should make sure they truly say what you were told they say so you are not inadvertently insulting your new supervisor鈥檚 mother.

If your resume says you attend church regularly but the tattoo on your arm is of Satan rolling snake eyes, you may be giving the interviewer a mixed message.

You want them to focus on your training and talent and not the rings in your nose or the purple bird nest on your head.

When I was younger it was all about long hair. 鈥淐ut your hair; nobody is going to hire some dope-smoking hippie,鈥� we were told.

That was never a problem in our house, as dad had barber clippers and the summer haircut, the back-to-school haircut and the Christmas haircut took less than a minute for each boy.

You could always pick us out in the school鈥檚 class pictures.

But it comes back to attitude, and I would have hired that checkout girl just on her smile and personality alone. Show people the real you first, they will look past the rest.

At least that鈥檚 what McGregor says.