Interview Do’s
Appearance:
- Do make sure that your hands are attractive. This means you have trimmed and clean nails.
- Do make sure your hair is in place and conventional
- Do pay attention to your scent. Women with powerful perfumes and men with intense colognes can destroy interviews. Moderation is recommended.
- Do go to the rest room before you visit the employment lobby. It is embarrassing to interrupt an interview, and you want to be as comfortable & presentable as possible.
- Do get a good night’s sleep before each day that you go for an Interview. If you yawn in the lobby or smother a yawn during the interview, it will cost you. Be rested and stay your alert best.
Behaviour:
- Arrive ten to fifteen minutes early to the interview venue.
- Do show respect for the employer and the opportunity. Be sure to treat everyone there with respect, from the people in the parking lot or on public transportation to the receptionist and the hiring manager.
- Do look the interviewer in the eye. Recruiters place a lot of emphasis on eye contact.
- Do try to sparkle! Use gestures in your conversation. Make sure they are smooth and emphatic.
- Do wear a smile on your face.
- Do make sure you get the interview’s name right and use it a few times in the interview.
- Do let the interviewer set the pace of the interview. Let him or her lead with the questions.
- Do let the interviewer decide when the interview is over.
- Do ask the interviewer when you will hear from him or her again if he or she does not offer the information.
Preparation:
- Do know the job and how you fit the job’s requirements.
- Do research the employer. The quickest way to fail an interview is to know nothing about the employer or to ask uninformed questions like, “What do you do here?” Your research should include what the company does, where they are located, who works there, and how they are viewed. Check the organization’s website, as well as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks. Also, use a search engine to learn more about them.
- Bring a copy of the job description with you when you go to the interview. Before the interview, study the job description carefully, particularly the requirements.
- Write down how you match each requirement. Then, document your successes that demonstrate you meet, or exceed, those requirements.
- Quantify those accomplishments as much as possible — profit increased or expenses reduced, for example. Primarily focus on your accomplishments (most recent are better) that are relevant to the requirements of this job.
- Do get prepared to answer the standard job interview questions. Study the most commonly asked job interview questions, and prepare your responses in advance, customized to each employer.
Interview Don’ts
Appearance:
- Don’t sit down until you are asked. Don’t worry about this, the recruiter won’t make you stand-but if you move quickly to your chair and sit down, you will appear forward.
- Don’t wear tinted glasses into an interview and if don’t wear your eyeglasses all the time, don’t park them on top of your head. Take them off and put them in your purse or pocket.
- Don’t lean on or put your elbows on the interviewer’s desk. Sit back in your chair, so the interviewer can see more of you. Sit Straight.
- Don’t carry an over-sized handbag even if it is fashionable. Carry a bag that is smaller and more manageable. Put it on the floor during the interview. Never place it on the interviewer’s desk.
- Don’t keep adjusting your clothes.
- Don’t fiddle with your hair.
- Don’t have anything in your mouth except your teeth-no gum, no candies, no breath mints and no cigarettes (obviously!)
- Don’t have unusually long fingernails. This applied to men as well as women.
- Don’t show your nervousness by drumming your fingers, swing your leg, or cracking your knuckles. Don’t have any loose change in your pocket—most of us tend to jingle it when we’re nervous. (You really shouldn’t have your hands in your pockets in the first place.)
Behaviour:
- Don’t be late. In fact, plan to be early for any scheduled interview. If you are late or arrive just in the nick of time, the interviewer will start to wonder how prompt you might be after you start to work.
- Don’t compare the recruiter’s office with others that you have seen. The recruiter or hiring manager might decide that you have seen the inside of too many employment offices, including his or hers.
- Don’t pick up anything from the recruiter’s desk unless you are invited to do so.
- Don’t listen to any phone calls the recruiter may receive while you are with him or her. It’s hard not to listen, but do you best to tune it out. After such a phone call, don’t comment on something he or she said or ask a question about the conversation.
- Don’t stand if someone else (man or woman) enters the recruiter’s office. Keep your chair and don’t say anything to the visitor unless you are spoken to first. If the recruiter introduces you to the person who came in, then you may stand.
- Don’t inspect or read documents on the recruiter’s desk.
- Don’t overuse the interview’s name. Too much of that is annoying.
- Don’t dominate the conversation. Answer the questions thoroughly, but don’t drone on forever.
- Don’t be a comedian. Wisecracks and laughter can come later. Be pleasant, but remember that the interviewing process is formal and serious. An overly lighthearted approach will cause the interviewer to question the seriousness of your purpose.
- Don’t interrupt. It is inexcusable in an interviewing situation.
- Don’t use profanity even if the recruiter does. It can’t possibly help your image.
- Don’t get angry or even irritated during the interview. You can be firm—not angry—if the questioning becomes improper or begins to slip into irrelevant areas.
Preparation:
- Don’t interpret items on your resume until you are asked. Your resume should be self-explanatory. If additional details are needed, the interview will ask for them.
- Don’t mumble or chatter while the interviewer is reviewing your resume. Let him or her read it in peace.
- Don’t lie or misrepresent anything. Sometimes candidates lie about their salary. Recruiters often ask for proof, such as salary slips or bank statements or W2 in US or Canada. Given the speed and ease of accessing online information today, with access to all kinds of information, making a false claim on many things can be easily discovered. So, to avoid making a bad hire, many employers double-check information provided by the job candidate using Google and LinkedIn as well as your references. False claims are deadly, so don’t risk it.
- Don’t give one or two word answers. The recruiter is trying to get to know you. Talk to him or her. If you go into a shell, you probably won’t be hired.
- Don’t slip into a speech-making or preaching tone of voice. You are not on the Senate/Parliament floor. You are in a conversation.
- Don’t try to overpower the recruiter with bragging or overstatement. He or she will not respond well, and he or she is probably skilled in recognizing distortions of background and experience.
- Don’t criticize your present or past employer too much. If it is a bad situation, you can mention it but don’t harp on it. Be objective instead of complaining or bad mouthing.
- Don’t look at your watch during the interview. This tends to hurry things along. Let the interview set the pace.
- Do NOT talk or text on your smartphone during the interview. Focus completely on the job interview. Turn off your smartphone, and do not access it during the interview. In fact, keep it turned off or on a silent mode until you leave the employer’s or recruiter’s office.
- Don’t ask, “Will I get the job?” or “Can I have the job?” Those questions tend to push the recruiter and he or she will not like that. Rather say, “I hope you can consider me as a candidate for this job” or I’m really interested in the job.”
- Don’t talk about the salary until later in the hiring process or until the recruiter brings it up.