Will My Acne Hurt Interview Chances? Forum

[scifiguy]

Anyone here have acne? I do.

I'm still in UG, so really no serious interviews coming up for me yet (junior here). But kind of just curious about this topic for law job interviews, since I'm researching law school and legal work.

I know interviews are very important and particularly in biglaw there's a lot of emphasis placed on being presentable to potential clients (so I've read). I'm wondering if bad acne could really hurt a person in a law job interview? If you have a great transcript and great personality, but suffer from acne, will that come off poorly and hurt you? Would it even be worth explaining to the interviewer? It can be embarassing.

My chronic bad acne is from high school and hasn't really gone away even with treatment. It's gotten better, but I still have it and during bad periods it can look quite bad.

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[Tom Joad]

Have you tried Accutane? I have heard it is really bad for your liver, but it has worked for everybody I know. I used to call one of my old roommates Elmo because his face was always so red, and he finally got fed up with it and got on Accutane, and now his face is beautiful. He even stopped taking it and didn't have any major problems for a long time, and he never complained about any liver problems.

[LawIdiot86]

It's not worth explaining and no interviewer will ever ask about it, but it will hurt you in an interview. First, it will make you appear less mature to the interviewer because most people associate acne with teenagers. Second, it will make you appear less professional because your competition will have a "clean" complexion that people associate with professionals. That isn't to say your grades might be so high that they hire you regardless, but it's one of those subtle signals (like weight, height, clothing quality, clothing style, baldness) that will impact the performance of a marginal candidate. Given that most candidates are marginal (outside of the T6), it's probably worth the liver damage to hit up the acutane (or propecia if you're balding, or gym if you're overweight). Also, I had horrific acne until the middle of my first year of college, so you might be ok waiting until the middle of 1L to start the treatment if you're actually concerned about your liver.

[ScottRiqui]

Accutane is TCR. I had horrible acne back in the mid-80s, took a cycle of Accutane and it cleared right up. Never came back, either.

Get it done long before you need to start looking presentable, though - the Accutane will dry out your face like you won't believe - your lips will chap, you'll be sloughing off huge patches of skin in the shower, and you may get a lot of redness and irritation. The final result is more than worth it, though.

[hookem7]

Accutane is like dropping a nuke on your acne. I did it in high school and have had clear skin since but it has some pretty rough side effects, especially dry lips and redness in my case. Also, if I recall correctly it seemed like the side effects weren't as bad for guys compared to girls. In the end though its definitely worth it.

[Anonymous User]

Accutane is amazing, it made my Acne - chest, back, and face - all go away. I still have some pretty bad scars, but nothing on my face. I'd recommend it... but it does have some pretty bad side effects. It dried out my face so much. I still remember one time when I was tutoring someone and went to use the bathroom and came back and saw her texting over her shoulder (wasn't on purpose, I promise), and her text message was something along the lines of, "his face is, like, bleeding and cracking, it's really gross."

I was on a super high dose, though, something like 120 (whatever the units are) a day.

[moonman157]

Have you tried Accutane? I have heard it is really bad for your liver, but it has worked for everybody I know. I used to call one of my old roommates Elmo because his face was always so red, and he finally got fed up with it and got on Accutane, and now his face is beautiful. He even stopped taking it and didn't have any major problems for a long time, and he never complained about any liver problems.

Wow, you're kind of an ass

[HBBJohnStamos]

This thread is relevant to my interests, only in that my grades will be awful and I need the acne'd strivers to strike out.

[uvabro]

i'd imagine the effect it has on ur confidence can be bigger. it can't help but i'd imagine recruiters r a little smarter than to put too much weight into it. i don't have acne, but if i was hiring someone that'd be way below sense of style or weight.

[StylinNProfilin]

Accutane is amazing, took it freshman year of hs and cleared up everything. Isnt it crazy expensive though?

[drmguy]

I thought that accutane was just an antibiotic. I've never heard about liver problems. I have several friends that were extremely sick when they came off of it because they felt their immune systems became dependent on it.

I mainly came here because I heard there is a new treatment being developed that would likely end acne entirely with no negative side effects. The new drug will just be the naturally occurring virus that kills acne bacteria. I think it's being tested right now. I guess there's light at the end of the tunnel.

[ScottRiqui]

I thought that accutane was just an antibiotic. I've never heard about liver problems. I have several friends that were extremely sick when they came off of it because they felt their immune systems became dependent on it.

The doctor has to monitor your liver functions pretty closely during the treatment. I think I went in for blood tests every week or every other week while I was on Accutane. I don't remember any ill effects when I stopped taking it, but I was only one it for one cycle.

Accutane is amazing, took it freshman year of hs and cleared up everything. Isnt it crazy expensive though?

I don't think it's as bad now that Roche's patent has expired and there are generics on the market. In fact, the generics are the only versions you can even get in the U.S. Roche stopped marketing Accutane in the U.S. a few years ago.

I remember it was pretty expensive when I took it in 1985-86. Something like $10/day for four months.

[Rahviveh]

I did accutane in high school, long ass time ago and it killed my acne. The side effects WERE tough though, particularly redness/dryness, but those go away completely after awhile. Do it now so that you'll be fresh for OCI.

[Gorki]

Heads up OP, if you are female, do not take Accutane. It worked well for me as a male, but doctor informed me that he basically tells all females using it that they have a good shot at long-term birth defect issues.

[warandpeace]

OP are you female? If you are, makeup. Go on youtube and you will find some excellent tutorials. If you are male, have you considered that it might be your diet? Maybe you shouldn't be consuming gluten, etc? Also, do you moisturize? A lot of people don't moisturize, and don't realize that's the stem of all their problems. I wish you luck, and PM me if you want to talk.

[scifiguy]

I'm male. I don't moisturize actually. I do lotion my face during those times that I'm chapping or ashing up, but I don't do it when I'm otherwise "ok" if you know what I mean. Maybe I should moisturize my face even when I'm not super dry? I'll try that. I think I used to avoid it because i was oily and didn't think that adding lotion to an already oily face would be good.

I'm going to talk to my derm then. A lot of you guys recommend Accutane, so I'll have to research it and talk to my doc.

Just wanted to say that as embarassing as acne is that it actually does help in a weird way to hear others have gone through it. You know...like you're not alone and not a freak for having it. Of course it's a bad thing and I wouldn't want others to have it! But in a weird way it's comforting to know others have had it too. Alright, thaat's all I'm going to say about this for now, lol. It's a weird topic for TLS!!! hahaha.

Oh, and for those wondernig, yeah, I'm basically taking Minocycline anti-biotic right now from my dermatologist. So I am actually donig something about my acne and not just literally letting it occur without trying to prevent or eliminate it. It's just that the antibiotic seems to lessen my acne, but not completely get rid of it. It does take away like really big zits. But I still get like clogged pores and smaller zits. And when I went off the drugs I got bigger zits back. ....but enough!!! No more acne talk for now! Rest assured I'll chat with my doctor, lol.

[warandpeace]

I'm male. I don't moisturize actually. I do lotion my face during those times that I'm chapping or ashing up, but I don't do it when I'm otherwise "ok" if you know what I mean. Maybe I should moisturize my face even when I'm not super dry? I'll try that. I think I used to avoid it because i was oily and didn't think that adding lotion to an already oily face would be good.

I have oily skin too. I used to think that because you have oily skin, you have to stay away from moisturizer. This is not the case. Everytime you wash your face, you are robbing it of its natural oils (same as using shampoo, which is why we use conditioner). What the moisturizer does is reinstate some of that natural oil, so that your body doesn't get confused and feel as though it needs to produce even MORE oil than necessary, which is often what makes us breakout. Always use moisturizer when you strip your face of oil.

Oh, another trick I use is at night I'll mix an acne serum (Neutrogena, Clearasil, whatever) with the moisturizer. So you're replenishing oil + fighting bacteria without drying the skin.

Another thing is to change your pillow case extremely frequently...like every 2 days.

Hopefully you should see improvements in a month! Drink lots of water and eat clean, as well. It's not embarrassing, most of us have gone through it/still go through it (:

[Tom Joad]

This thread is relevant to my interests, only in that my grades will be awful and I need the acne'd strivers to strike out.

brb going to start cooking hundreds of pounds of French Fries in the library.

[HBBJohnStamos]

This thread is relevant to my interests, only in that my grades will be awful and I need the acne'd strivers to strike out.

brb going to start cooking hundreds of pounds of French Fries in the library.

The subtlest of all gunning techniques.

[Tom Joad]

This thread is relevant to my interests, only in that my grades will be awful and I need the acne'd strivers to strike out.

brb going to start cooking hundreds of pounds of French Fries in the library.

The subtlest of all gunning techniques.

If I see one more person with an E&E I am just going to start flinging acid in faces.

[gaud]

This thread is relevant to my interests, only in that my grades will be awful and I need the acne'd strivers to strike out.

brb going to start cooking hundreds of pounds of French Fries in the library.

The subtlest of all gunning techniques.

If I see one more person with an E&E I am just going to start flinging acid in faces.

I know this feel

[MarcusAurelius]

brb going to start cooking hundreds of pounds of French Fries in the library.

The subtlest of all gunning techniques.

If I see one more person with an E&E I am just going to start flinging acid in faces.

I know this feel

An anecdote, if i may...I'm currently attending a TT and I don't know anyone who uses E&Es, nor have I seen anyone use E&Es. 75% of the kids in my section don't know what is going on in civil procedure but would do much better if they did use a supplement, especially for topics like joinder rules, supplemental and arising under jurisdiction. The E&E doesn't help for many topics since a few of the federal rules have been re-written--venue rules for example--and the E&E hasn't been updated to include cases like Nicastro. But it can be extremely helpful.

[cinephile]

This probably isn't helpful, but you may just age out of it. Mine was terrible from ages 10-20. I tried almost everything (no accutane or UV light therapy, though) and nothing worked. Then one day when I was 20 I noticed that it was all gone. Age and hormones evening out can really help.

[ScottRiqui]

This probably isn't helpful, but you may just age out of it. Mine was terrible from ages 10-20. I tried almost everything (no accutane or UV light therapy, though) and nothing worked. Then one day when I was 20 I noticed that it was all gone. Age and hormones evening out can really help.

True, although if the acne is bad enough, it can be a crap shoot as to whether you'll outgrow it without being left with cystic acne scars. Unless you're a woman who's trying to get pregnant or have some history of liver problems, I think Accutane is the way to go if the simple/obvious stuff doesn't work.

[Uncle.Joe]

Davis Polk is out