Recruiter begs Gen-Z professionals to stop wearing stickers on their face during job interviews: 'The hiring manager is 47. She does not know those are pimple patches.'

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Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
Sep 24, 2026 5:15 PM EDT

Do you wear pimple patches out of the house?

There's been a lot of online discussion lately about professionalism in job interviews. Conventional wisdom says we should be far more professional in an interview than we would be on the job. At the interview, you're supposed to dress up and do absolutely nothing that would make them skeptical about hiring you. Even if your past boss was an idiot, you shouldn't say that in the job interview, because your interviewer will assume that you call all of your past bosses idiots and won't respect your boss at this new job. That might not be true, but how would they know that? They just met you!

One recruiter took to the internet to share her Gen Z job interview pet peeve…pimple patches. 

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  • 01
    Woman with purple polkda dots on her face
    via Fellipe Ditadi (Unsplash+)

    A Gen Zer with pimple patches on her face in the shape of star stickers.

    Image shown for illustrative purposes; person depicted is a model.

  • 02
    maha @mahaaaay just to add to the interview discourse. please do not show up to an interview with those acne star stickers on your face. please for the love of God stop doing that
    via @mahaaaay
  • 03
    Just @dragqueenjp these pimple patches do nothing to you or others, or influence in any way the ability for the person to show whether or not they can do the job. what the f is wrong with you
    via @dragqueenjp
  • 04
    maha @mahaaaay i never once said that they influence someone's ability to properly do a job. it is extremely unprofessional to show up to a business meeting with a colourful star sticker on your face do you understand nuance at all or are you just dense?
    via @mahaaaay
  • 05
    Wiggles @thebabyplier Maybe you should've specified "business meeting" instead because then THAT would make a lot more sense as opposed to catering to people who completely ridicule others for JUST wearing the star patches in any setting
    via @thebabyplier
  • 06
    maha @mahaaaay can you read
    via @mahaaaay
  • 07
    The lens bandit @N_I_K_I Do you have beef with all of them or just the star shaped ones...coz I feel like the clear ones shouldn't be an issue
    via @N__I__K__I
  • 08
    Close-up of a young man with dark hair looking away
    via Oscar Ramirez (Unsplash+)

    A young man with regular pimple patches on his face.

    Model representation. 

  • 09
    maha @mahaaaay the star stickers
    via @mahaaaay
  • 10
    lil &$!#% baby @11kmrn i'll go a step further and say stop wearing them out of the house in general …………..
    via @11kmrn
  • 11
    olaleye kunle ❤ @olaleyekunle4 The hiring manager is 47. She does not know those are pimple patches. She thinks you decorated your face like a Lisa Frank folder and then asked for $72k.
    via @olaleyekunle4
  • 12
    Eternal-Return Enjoyer @Vogelfrei270 I mean what the f concealer on them? happened to just putting
    via @Vogelfrei270
  • 13
    maha @mahaaaay we've lost the plot
    via @mahaaaay

  • Part of the appeal of pimple patches for young people is that they help cover your acne while also helping you not break out more. If you apply heavy foundation and concealer every day, it can clog your pores further and make it nearly impossible for your skin to clear up. Pimple patches extract pus from zits, and they work like magic. I can't say the same for the acne "solutions" that I used when I was a teenager. 

  • 14
    Galw Y Mela @melvv145 What kills me is that people would absolutely be upset if a person has a face full of acne.
    via @melvv145

  • If you have severe acne, there's no real way to avoid other people noticing. Whether you wear tons of pimple patches, cover it with makeup, or don't do anything to hide it, you're going to be percieved as somebody with acne and experience all of the social stigma that comes with that. 

    If you have a moderate amount of acne, or very little acne, pimple patches can draw more attention to it than it would've gotten if you had just left it exposed. But then again, people wear pimple patches for different reasons. Some wear them because they want to apply acne medicine during the day to supplement their nighttime skincare routine. 

  • 15
    evil and intimidating fish @whataboutnascar I understand the wet hair/coffee takes but can someone articulate whats wrong with having pimple patches to cover up pimples. Why is that unprofessional
    via @whataboutnascar
  • 16
    evil and intimidating fish @whataboutnascar The reason why wet hair and iced coffee at a job interview are unprofessional is because they signal that you put little to no effort into your presentation or run late frequently due to poor time management. Covering acne does the opposite of that imo???
    via @whataboutnascar
  • 17
    jesser @defunctgirlie Why is a bright yellow star sticker on your face unprofessional? Idk man
    via @defunctgirlie
  • 18
    Hachi @NatTheCatMom Are they going to policy the hello kitty bandaid I use when I get a papercut too?? When if enough? Smh
    via @NatTheCatMom
  • 19
    6shooter @islandofpala Please wear a hello kitty bandaid on your face to a job interview.
    via @islandofpala
  • 20
    dr Mary kline @areawoman_ i got a job last week looking like this for the entire there are no rules interview
    via @areawoman_
  • 21

    This might be the singular exception to this rule

    big turner @negativedolls what if its for a pimple patch company
    via @negativedolls

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Tags

stickers sticker pimple recruiter face professional acne recruiting pimple patch recruitment gen z unprofessional
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