Individuality is becoming a rising tide and changing everything about life as we know it. People start to care less about conformity and society's rules. They are starting to focus more on what it means to be free and also what it means to be an individual. Standing out and being different is an important part of individualism. Some people choose to stand out by being creative and doing creative things like getting facial piercings, also known as body modifications. Body modification has been around for centuries, with most people getting piercings or tattoos as a form of artistic expression. Piercings have evolved greatly, with new techniques such as the spectrum piercing which is a piercing of the cartilage between the nostrils. Lip piercing is a piercing that penetrates the lips or the area surrounding the lips. A dermal microimplant which is a superficial piercing that usually has only one exit point and resembles a single stud. Since body modification is on the rise, we wanted to know whether or not facial piercings would affect employment opportunities. We also wanted to know whether individuals with facial piercings are seen as less professionally competent and less friendly. In a similar study on piercing and intake conducted by John Seiter and Andrea Sandry (2003), when an individual wore a nose ring the intake rate was decreased when wearing a nose ring. Their findings also indicated that job seekers' credibility ratings also decreased when they wore facial jewelry. Attractiveness and intelligence are important factors in hiring; Recent studies show that facial piercings can affect these traits. A team of researchers focused on how observers perceived the individual... in the center of the paper... so that participants understood who they were evaluating. In conclusion from this study I learned that wanting to be an individual has many repercussions.' Society does not respect self-expression; It's amazing how a simple but removable piercing can influence many futures. Works Cited Seiter, J.S., & Sandry, A. (n.d.). Pierced for success?: The effects of ear and nose piercing on job candidates' perceptions of credibility, attractiveness, and hireability. Communication Research Reports, 20(4), 287-298.Newman AW, Wright SW, Wrenn KD, Bernard A. Should doctors have facial piercings? J Gen Intern Med. 2005;20(3):213–8.Swami V, Stieger S, Pietschnig J, Voracek M, Furnham A, Tovée MJ, The influence of facial piercings and observer personality on the perception of physical attractiveness and intelligence