Students on the job hunt with piercings and tattoos could find that a bit of individuality may make it harder to find a job.

Students with visible piercings and tattoos may have difficulty trying to find jobs after college, ISU career advisers said. Many employers are looking for people who represent their companies and could frown upon people with visible tattoos or piercings.

However, that can vary depending on the area someone is going into, said Steven Kravinsky, director of Liberal Arts and Sciences career placement.

Kravinsky said he advises students to have a conservative appearance when looking for jobs.

In particular, fields such as customer service or accounting don’t often hire candidates with visible piercings or tattoos, he said.

“In most cases it would give the wrong impression,” Kravinsky said.

Most students are practical enough to know that having piercings or tattoos in visible places can deter employers from hiring them, he said.

With her auburn dreadlocks and a ring through her nose, Sarah Jans knows she doesn’t fit the standard for professional appearance, but despite knowing her look could affect any jobs she gets, she said she won’t change it.

“I think that my hair and my piercings are something that reflect myself, and I wouldn’t change that for a job,” said Jans, junior in English, said.

Besides the septum piercing in her nose, Jans said she has eight earrings.

She said that after college, she plans on going into graduate school, but would have to find a job in the meantime.

Keith Twombley, senior in computer science, said he has three tattoos, but none of them are visible — placements he thought about before getting inked.

“I was worried about having them visible [because I knew it could affect getting a job],” he said. “It’d be nice to be idealistic and think like ‘If they don’t respect my art, then I don’t want a job,’ but the real world doesn’t work that way.”

Twombley said he also has his tongue pierced, but takes the jewelry out for job interviews.

“I plan on getting a lot more tattoos, but I don’t want to get any on my forearms or face or anything like that,” he said.

Twombley said he expects to graduate in December, and doesn’t think he’ll have difficulty finding a job.

“I’m not sweating it too much; I had an internship and that wasn’t a big deal,” he said.

He said he didn’t think most people who get tattoos put a lot of thought into it how it will affect their chances at landing jobs.

Although a person’s looks can affect getting a job, Kravinsky said he does not deter students from getting tattoos or piercings. Instead, he advises students to think about their placement beforehand.

Kravinsky said his son has a lot of tattoos, but none are in a visible place.

“If it’s something that is really important to your persona, then you have to reevaluate what’s important to you,” he said.

However, in most interview situations, he said, a student’s appearance should be the same as he or she would appear on the job.

Once a person gets accustomed to the job environment, he said, he or she can then consider having piercings or tattoos.

“Hair grows back, piercings can go back in,” he said.