Interview Tips
Interview Manners
Attire, body language and manners count during interviews. After
all, interviewers are regular people like the rest of us, impressed
by good behavior and easily offended by inappropriate behavior.
Yet, surveys and other indicators show that job candidates' interview
manners and other professionalisms are on the decline.
For example, according to the Employer Results of Vault's Interview
Manners Survey, up to 95 percent of employers surveyed indicated
that job candidates' manners had declined in some way, shape
or form, such as removing shoes, bringing pets and the topper
of late, rudely interrupting their interviewers by making cell
phone calls.
To see what surveyed employees mistakenly assume are acceptable
manners for interviews, refer to the Employee Results of Vault's Interview
Manners Survey.
As another example and among other bizarre behaviors, FacilitatorGuy
reported on his "Interview
Bloopers" page that a job candidate ate a hamburger and
french fries in her interviewer's office and even wiped up ketchup
with her sleeve. Worse, another job candidate interrupted the interview
to phone his shrink, for advice on how to answer specific questions!
As a last example, Alison Doyle, who runs the Job
Searching site at About.com and has also worked as an HR
representative, told this writer that one of her interviewees
unbuttoned his shirt and started to drop his drawers to show
her the scar from a boat propeller, as "proof"
that his unemployment wasn't
his fault!
Alison stopped Mr. Clueless from mooning her and needless to say,
she didn't offer him the accounting job. She also didn't offer
it to "the young lady in a bright red skirt so short and tight,
that she could hardly sit down!"
On the following pages are tips for acting professionally before,
during and after interviews, to avoid offending interviewers and
increase your chances of landing a job.
You might think that some of the interview tips are no-brainers.
If so, that's good. It means that you are already on your way to
completing successful interviews. No offense is intended; but,
as you've read above, weird stuff really does happen during interviews!
Subsequently, the following interview tips simply attempt to cover
what's generally prudent and what's not for interviews.
The interview tips are based on good manners in the USA.
Good manners are appreciated everywhere, but what constitutes
them might differ among other countries. |
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