When was the last time someone said that you were a professional individual? When was the last time someone told you that you were acting unprofessional? By now, you may have already read my 5 ways to be professional anywhere. Professionalism and unprofessionalism¹ are confused with the idea of a job profession so much, that the majority of the society now thinks that professionalism is the direct child of the concept of a job profession.

Since stereotypes are everywhere, today I would like to present to you tips for 10 stereotypical elements to offline unprofessionalism, or hurdles to offline professionalism: hair, money, tattoos, housing, external and internal attitudes, transportation, attire, relationships, and jobs. Because of these 10 things, you or someone else may have a hard time coming off as a person who exhibits professionalism.

10 stereotypical obstacles to offline professionalism

1. Hair

   This is one of the most common ways to judge someone’s professionalism. If you are male and always have hair that is out of control, you will most probably be considered as an unprofessional person. For men, not shaving your facial hair for a day or two automatically shows many people what kind of an unprofessional hobo you are. Usually, the length of the hair also plays a strong role in creating stereotypes as to whether or not certain hair style implies professionalism.

   For example, for many people, a guy having long, untied or wavy, hair may imply weirdness and unprofessionalism, as guys are usually expected to have short or neatly tied hair. Similarly, a lady having short, typically-man-style hair or having a clean, shaved head usually results in people not knowing how to treat that lady the same way they would respect a lady who has long hair. Bruce Willis shaving his shaven head is all right, but Britney Spears shaving her head is not; many people will not even ask why she shaved her head before criticizing her for being a fool for shaving her head. Having long hair can result in people stereotyping about you even outside the realm of professionalism.

2. Money

   Oh yes, money money money! The money issue is stronger than ever before in many cases. If you are poor, you will have a hard time being perceived as a person who exhibits professionalism. You do not give expensive birthday gifts to others, you do not leave large amount of tips at restaurants, and you try to save money in many other ways; you will, in most cases, be looked upon in an inferior manner.

   You never pay for others when going out? In many business situations that can be considered a sign that you are poor (or a cheapskate). If you ever mention in any situation that you do not have enough money or that you are saving money, many people may start thinking you are unprofessional on some levels, since you do not have enough money and thus may have problems.

3. Tattoos

   There was a day when tattoos were considered to be signs of thugs and bike riders, as if they were both exactly the same type of people. Well, tattoos are still the original trademarks of these two groups of people, though today more and more people are getting tattoos as it can make someone feel better and more important in many cases. On Ronald’s site, he talked about how tattoos can be bad, and that resulted in a lot of support for tattoos.

   In most places today, especially in the office workplace, having exposed tattoos on your body can result in people thinking you are the Gothic, emo², or a similar type of individual who can snap or bite anytime. People with tattoos are rarely perceived as being completely quiet these days, so if you have the tattoo of me or the words “Bes Z The Reasoner” springing up from your neck so that everyone can see it, the world might mistreat you (but I won’t. :p )³.

4. Where you live

   Imagine being with a group of people who keep inviting everyone to their big homes in nice neighborhoods. And when you invite everyone, you worry and panic a lot as you have a small home or an apartment in a not-so rich and a not-so clean neighborhood.

   A lot of people use their own feelings of feeling safe as a tool to judge others. So if someone feels uncomfortable in your neighborhood, they may start wondering if you are someone who is also a low-life scum, since many people who live in poor neighborhoods are considered to be losers by many people. Professionalism must be reflected in your home, in the eyes of many. The mere mention of an unsafe city name or neighborhood will result in people stereotyping your professionalism.

5. External attitude

   External attitude is another word for something that I view as your behavior that is intended towards other people around you. Today, usually serious and non-moody people are considered to be great examples of good professionalism. If you laugh too much, bam! You are not that professional. You argue too much? Well, that is considered bad too, even though people who are always joking and laughing and not being serious are usually considered less professional than people who start more arguments or fights.

   This trait is what I call the personality.

6. Internal attitude

   This is what I consider your behavior that revolves around you, mainly for your own self. You read comics, watch cartoons and like building objects with Legos? You will usually be considered as a person not showing any good signs of professionalism.

   You read Business Week, watch depressing World News, and like setting up e-mail accounts on your cell phone? You will be considered to have good signs of professionalism.

   You like gummy bears? You prefer McDonald’s to restaurant food? You prefer playing with your cat or dog instead of going to office drinking parties? Bam! You know nothing about professionalism.

   This trait is what I call the character.

7. Your method of transportation

   This is one of the most stereotypical ways to figure out whether or not we think someone exhibits professionalism, and it is also one of the most common ones. You need a brand new car or a clean looking car that impresses when being looked at, in order to be accepted as a person who exhibits professionalism.

   You have the crappiest car on the planet? Your car has a cracked or a broken window? Your car makes the weirdest and loudest noise when you drive it? In such cases, other people today will rarely ask you about what professionalism means, unless they want to be sarcastic.

   You ride a bus to work or school or everywhere? You already lost a lot of professionalism points to someone who has a car. You get rides from someone else? You are a loser, and are considered to have no professionalism, and are someone who depends on favors to survive. You ride a motor bike or a bicycle to places? You are considered to have less money and professionalism values than people with nice cars who can give others rides.

8. Attire

   Your attire includes your clothes, shoes and your watch. I give this a separate category as this is what most people usually see when they see you. If your clothes are wrinkled or dirty or old, you usually do not show any signs of professionalism in the eyes of many. Similarly, your shoes must be new or polished, and your watch must be something to drool over. Try scoring good points in every other stereotypical point listed here except the shoes, and wear torn out shoes. See how people react.

   The watch is a tricky issue. You should have a watch. Your watch must be on the right place. It must be a certain type of watch, and it must not have a lot of characteristics that watches for females have, and vice versa. Anything different, and you are already making some people doubt as to whether or not you can practice professionalism naturally.

9. Relationships

   Are you single, married or divorced? Many people will judge your professionalism based on that. What kind of friends do you hang out with? People will stereotype your character and level of professionalism based on that.

   You yourself are a good person but have a friend or two who are thugs? You will be considered a good example of unprofessionalism. You have rich or famous friends? Professionalism is the topic in which people cite you as a good example.

   Then comes your family. Ohhh, sweet old family. They are a bunch of poor old folks living in a crappy neighborhood and you live with them? Haha, out goes your professionalism in the eyes of many, specially some significant others. You visit your poor parents a lot and act normal around them and let them be the way they are, while you blend in completely in their old house? Down goes the professionalism, even if it was a little bit to begin with.

10. Job

    In today’s world, for many people this can be the most important factor in figuring out the level of professionalism in you. Your job status and the kind of job you may have makes other people judge you a lot. You do not have a job? Your professionalism points went down by 30%. No, make that 50%.

    You’re a blogger? What the hell is a blogger? BAM! Your professionalism points went down by 80%! Take that you so-called blogger-whatever!

    You have a high paying job? You exhibit professionalism. You have a home based business? You may or may not have the same amount of professionalism as the person with the high paying job, unless your home job gets you more profit.

    You have the same job as your co-workers, yet you work from home. How popular are you at the company picnic? What makes you so good to work from home while others have to suffer from the cubical anxiety?

    You work as a janitor? Many people will think you are not a human and that you have gone mad if you start talking about professionalism. You have no job or are a student? You have yet to earn any real and worthy professionalism.

10 stereotypical ways to unprofessionalism

Those are the 10 stereotypical obstacles to offline professionalism, where others will think you exhibit or do not exhibit professionalism based on things completely irrelevant to what real professionalism is about.

Can you think up of any more points? What are your views on any of the above points?

Thank you for reading. You have shown extra amount of professionalism because of reading my article.

1. I call being unprofessional a sign of unprofessionalism. Consider this my creation and a trademark if you have not heard about it before. [↩]
2. Emo here refers to the concept of taking the emo kind of music, or emotional music, and applying it to different parts of life. This is not something that focuses only or even at the very concept of being emotional about things, but about letting certain extreme emotions dictate our attitude towards things. Some applications can include wearing certain colors of clothing, dying hair to certain colors, eye lash colors, wearing white socks, black dress shoes, having enough facial hair to at least show your skin, etc. The “emo” trend itself does not completely and fully revolve around the concept of being emotional. Instead, being emo today means being emotional in terms of living a life in certain ways with the main and sole purpose to show that you are emo, and not necessarily to show emotions or being emotional about things. [↩]
3. If you do get my and my site name as a tattoo, let me know. I am sure I will be more than excited, I think. [↩]