Can a Hairstyle Torpedo a Job Offer?

Just be yourself

This is about Japan. Proctor and Gamble’s Pantene haircare conducted a survey about just that.

The Pantene product team carried out a survey of more than 1,300 job-seekers to gather their unvarnished opinions on the way they go about landing that all-important first position out of school—or, more importantly, the way they feel they are required to go about it. Applying for a job in Japan is said to be a matter of effacing the self. Young men and women try to blend in with the crowd, wearing the same dark suits, the same conservative ties, the same sensible low-heeled pumps. Companies frequently announce that clothing and hairstyle choices are entirely up to the applicants, but nonetheless, it is the rare man indeed who shows up with long hair, and the rare woman whose hair—if it is long—is not gathered at the back of her head. Nobody wants to give a potential employer a reason to single them out as noteworthy for the wrong reasons.

Fully 81% of the young adults surveyed reported that in the job hunt, they had “pretended to be someone else” to meet what they viewed as employer expectations. And when asked whether they were satisfied with the way they looked or dressed during the job search, 73% of them reported dissatisfaction with how they had presented themselves.

Here is the corporate side's take. They claim to be open.

The survey also asked those on the job-offering side for their input. Out of the 200 firms that answered a question on whether applicants’ physical appearance was a factor in evaluating them, 45%, nearly half, noted that hairstyle didn’t play much of a role here. (Indeed, in another question, fully 79% replied that women could choose a hairstyle other than a ponytail without making a poor impression.) Meanwhile, a total of 71% of companies reported being open to the idea of applicants expressing more individuality in the way they dress and style their hair for interviews.

The Employment Consultant’s Take

For another take on this data, which indicates a lower corporate emphasis on conformity in appearance among job applicants, we asked Fukasawa Hiromi, a “job-seeking coach” at a school that trains applicants to land the perfect position, what she thought.

The standard image of the job-seeking young woman is a college student in a black “recruit suit” with her black hair tied in a ponytail. Fukasawa notes that this is increasingly not the case, though. “Yes, most applicants are still figures in black from head to toe, but a growing number of companies are asking them to come to interviews in the clothes they ordinarily wear, rather than this uniform.” These companies tend not to include any instructions on hairstyle, though, and as a result, even students in their everyday wear tend to play it safe by keeping their hair uncolored. This also makes it easier for those applying to other firms that may expect them to wear the standard suit, Fukasawa adds.

Could a young woman opting for unorthodox wear or hair jeopardize her shot at a job offer? “The companies are looking primarily at whether this person will be able to do the work they have for her,” she says. “They aren’t going to be judging her on the basis of her individuality. A person who exudes a confident air of a woman who has her act together will likely do just fine however she looks.

Still, you may want to play it safe.

 “These young people are heading out into an entirely unknown realm, the corporate world. If you give them free rein over how they style their appearance, it could introduce unease, or even fear, in some of them."

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