Off topic - some great interviewing "disaster" stories (from NYT).
February 3, 2002
Some Not-Too-Subtle Advice on Etiquette for Job Hunting
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Did you hear the one about the accountant
who squashed a bug in a job interview?
Or the woman who wrote a letter to a
prospective boss that began, "Dear Blah Blah?"
Or the aspiring lawyer who went to interviews
in tennis whites?
No, they are not jokes. They happened. And
they hold a lesson for job seekers in these
difficult economic times: it really does matter
how you behave in those friendly chats with
would-be employers. They will notice your indiscretions and probably hold them
against you.
Of course, some stories told by hiring managers about the gaffes they have
witnessed are so outlandish that the garden- variety goofs committed by most
people seem harmless by comparison. Even so, they are only extreme infractions
of the basic rules of job hunting. Here is an unscientific list of dos and don'ts.
Turn Off the Cellphone
"We've had a lot of candidates blow interviews because of cellphone usage," said
Anne Maxfield, president of Project Solvers, a Manhattan staffing firm. She
recalled a senior-level candidate who checked in with the receptionist, sat down,
called his mother and began "a loud conversation about how he had just gone to
the dentist to have his gums trimmed." When a manager finally greeted him, the
applicant said, "I'll be with you in a few minutes."
Don't Play With the Boss's Stuff
Alan Towers, president of TowersGroup, a Manhattan public relations firm,
interviewed a woman who struck him as intelligent and poised. When he escorted
her back to the reception area, he noticed the furniture had been rearranged.
"I thought maybe the cleaning lady or a secretary had done it. When she asked
me how I liked it, I realized with a shock that it was her doing," he said. "She
was a take- charge individual, but there are limits. My last words to her were:
`We'll call you.' "
Show Good Manners
Anthony P. Carnesi, owner of Profitability Consulting in Manhattan, was
surprised by the disheveled appearance of a woman he was interviewing. Even
so, her résumé was impressive, and he kept an open mind.
Until she plopped her canvas bag on its side on a table, that is, and a large water
bug scurried out. "I was shocked, but she reached out and slammed her hand
down right on top of the little critter," Mr. Carnesi said. "I was impressed by her
swiftness. She then wiped her hand on the napkin that her coffee cup was on,
turned to me and continued answering my question as if nothing had happened."
But something had: She had just blown her chance to get the job.
Check Correspondence for Errors
A candidate for an editorial assistant's job at Food & Wine magazine wrote thank-
you notes to both editors who had interviewed her. But her carelessness did her
in; she forgot to insert the name of one of the editors in her form letter.
"On one letter she got the name right," said Dana Cowin, Food & Wine's editor in
chief. "The other letter was written to Dear Blah Blah. The woman who got the
Blah Blah was really insulted."
Know How to Listen
David Moore, chairman of Sonostar Ventures, a venture capital firm in Millwood,
N.Y., recalls a prospective employee's 40-minute monologue about himself. "He
hardly came up for air," Mr. Moore said. "At the end of the meeting I said, `Do
you have any questions for us?' He said, `No, I think you've answered all of my
questions.' But he hadn't asked any. This is not the kind of person you want
around."
Dress Appropriately
When he was at the Harvard Business School in 1980, before the era of casual
dress in the workplace, Mr. Moore and the five law students he lived with often
compared notes about their job searches.
One morning, a housemate came downstairs in a tennis outfit and announced he
was going to an interview. "He said, `I go to all my interviews dressed like this.
Hey, this is who I am; if they don't like me, they won't hire me,' " Mr. Moore
said. "To the best of my knowledge, no one ever did."
Don't Flirt in Interviews
About a year ago, Mr. Moore was interviewing a woman dressed in a sexy black
dress for an executive assistant's position and wondered why she started talking
about all the times she had gone out to dinner with her former boss.
"But then it became clear that she was not opposed to reproducing that situation
in another job," he said. "It was clear this wasn't a path I should go down."
Watch What You Eat
Mark Sirota, an associate general counsel with Reader's Digest in Pleasantville,
N.Y., was taken to lunch in 1983 by several partners of a white-shoe law firm
seeking to fill a summer associate's position. He kept to simple fare — until he
ordered chocolate truffles in a bed of whipped cream covered with chocolate
sauce for dessert. As he pressed down on the first truffle with a spoon, it flew
off his plate.
Mr. Sirota sat motionless while the waiter pulled out the table to clean up the
mess, then joked about the need to observe job candidates at lunch "to make sure
we won't embarrass the firm in front of clients." The lawyers laughed politely.
Mr. Sirota didn't land the job.
Know What the Job Is
Janet Lee, fitness director at Fitness Magazine in Manhattan, remembers trying to
get a job as a summer intern at the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington when
she was studying accounting in college.
She was asked in an interview what she hoped to do. "Well, I really don't like
working with numbers," she replied. She realized her goof immediately and tried
to talk her way out of it, to no avail. "Since then, I've definitely polished my
interviewing skills," she said.
Do Your Homework
Fred Neurohr, a researcher for the Nassau County Youth Board in Hempstead,
N.Y., tells this story about a job interview he had at Publishers Clearinghouse, the
mailer of sweepstakes offers. To break the ice with the interviewer, he asked, "Is
Ed McMahon around a lot?" Getting no answer, he persisted. "Have you met
him?" Meeting more silence, he tried again. "I bet he's a trip at the holiday party."
Only then did his interviewer reply, "He works for the competition."
Oddly enough, he got the job, going on to become Publishers Clearinghouse's
head researcher. He later discovered that most Americans mistakenly associate
Mr. McMahon with Publishers Clearinghouse.
Don't Lie
And if you do, admit it. Ms. Cowin of Food & Wine magazine remembers a man
who acknowledged his claim to have a college degree was not exactly right.
"And I said, 'You either have a degree or not.' Finally, he said he almost got the
degree, falling one credit short." She hired him anyway because of his terrific
work. "What made the difference is that he admitted it," she said.
Check Your Zipper
It may be the stuff of jokes, but it happens. Ask Linda Gilleran, a principal
consultant for Hewlett-Packard (news/quote) in New York. She left an interview
for an associate's position at Lazard Frères, the investment bank, some years ago
thinking she had made a great impression.
Once outside, she said, "I looked down to find my fly wide open with just the
fluttering silk of my underwear between me and the world." She didn't get the
job.
This article was reported by Abby Ellin, Alice Feiring, Melinda Ligos, Marci
Alboher Nusbaum and Patrica R. Olsen
Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company |
