Query

I’ve seven piercings on my face, involving one on my lip, one on my eyebrow and 5 on both of my ears. Should I take these off for the job interview or leave them in?

Answer

Queries about piercings come up in several interviews, particularly with recent graduates. They are also one of the most complicated queries to answer, because the true query is “Are you eager to risk the job in favor of your individuality?”

General Dress Code

Everyone knows how significant dress code is to making a good 1st impression at a job interview. Interviewers like to see someone that not only dresses professional, but also someone that comprehends that it is important to make a good first impression. Even businesses with casual dress codes mostly value applicants that take the time to make themselves presentable, instead to simply throwing on their regular clothes without a second thought.

It is true that the corporate world does frown upon aesthetic expressions of individuality. They are less likely to employ someone with a tattoo. They mostly will not employ people with unusually colored hair (like blue or pink) or with unusual hair styles (like Mohawks). This is simply the nature of the corporate world.

Yet, what to do with most of these issues is fairly simple:

• If you’ve dyed hair, simply dye it to a more natural color.
• If you’ve an unusual hairstyle, then get it restyled to something more suitable.
• If you’ve a tattoo, there is nothing you can do anyway, so let it be.

All of those are fairly simple answers. If you can do something about the issue you fix it. If you can’t, you do not. Simple.

Piercings

The complex decision has to do with piercings. Unlike tattoos, you can remove piercings, but in their place is going to be a small hole, and that hole won’t go away. Any piercings that aren’t in your ear lobe risk leaving a negative impression. The business world is yet very uptight, and is not always accepting of lip rings, nose rings, etc.

Still, the answer to whether or not you should take it out is not that simple. The way you present yourself in the interview is the way that interviewers are going to hope you to present yourself at the job. You can’t go to an interview without your piercings, get the job, and then show up on the 1st day loaded with visible, unconventional nose and lip piercings. The interviewers will instantly worry they made a mistake, and you’ll be on thin ice during the rest of your employment.

What it boils down to is a decision you require making on your own. You can:

• Take out your piercings, but be advised that you’ll require keeping them out for as long as you’re employed.
• Keep in your piercings knowing that they might stop you from getting the job.

Which is the best option? It relied on you. If you keep the piercings in and they employ you, it is as though they are green lighting you to wear them every day at your leisure. On the other hand, your possibilities of getting a job are slimmer, and if you’re desperate for work your piercings are a small price to pay for employment.

What you do at the job interview is up to you. Choose based on weighing the risks of your individuality with the risks of employment. If you do decide to go to an interview with your piercings, it is a great idea to find the smallest and least attention seeking studs available to fill the holes. At the very least it will permit you to yet wear the piercings without drawing too much attention to yourself.