Making a positive impression while looking for a job is not rocket science. Yet the bizarrely stressful experience that is the modern corporate job interview can restrict the flow of common sense to the brain. Ordinarily, violating simple rules of etiquette attracts nothing more serious than a spouse’s frown. In a job interview, it’s tantamount to shooting yourself in the head. And it is not just the uneducated, unprofessional, unwashed masses that can fall prey to these traps.
1. Not doing one’s homework
Topping the list of no-no’s is going to an interview without thorough research. While it seems basic, interviewers say it’s the single biggest blooper candidates make. Try turning up for an interview for the position of, say, IRO at BP Amoco without knowing what BP stands for and see how far you get. Shoddy research smacks of indifference, rudeness and a special brand of stupidity. Judy Cushman of Judith Cushman & Associates says many people short shrift themselves. ‘They think of the interview in an offhand way and don’t value the time needed.’ It’s more than quickly compiling a resume. It requires thought about one’s skills and how they mesh with the employer. ‘People don’t stop to ask, What if this turns out to be incredibly interesting and I’ve presented myself at B level and not at A level?’ says Cushman.
Half-baked research shows. Fred Stone, MD for Thomson Financial Investor Relations in London, recalls a candidate trying to show knowledge of the company and then badly mispronouncing the product’s name. ‘It showed he’d started to research but it had gone off course so he didn’t fully capitalize on it.’
2. Dressing way down
It’s fair to say that exercising your god-given right to be naked in an interview is likely to be a career-inhibitor. But sometimes pin-stripes look daft too. Should you dress casually if it’s dress-down day? Yes and no. As Robert Woodrum of Korn/Ferry puts it, ‘You have to dress for the company. That’s part of your research. If you look at the annual report and everyone’s wearing an aloha shirt, that’s an indication.’ His advice: overdress rather than underdress.
Carol Ruth of The Ruth Group tells candidates she does not mind if they dress down. ‘I am curious to see what they think dress down is. People confuse dress down with not dressed at all.’ Women need to be particularly cautious. Cleavage, big earrings, or too much leg draw attention away from the professional accomplishments employers want to see. A common refrain in the executive search world is dress nicely, but it’s usually your enthusiasm, energy and ideas that you want to be remembered for, rather than your appearance. Then again, if you don’t have enthusiasm, energy or ideas, cleavage and leg might be a good bet.
3. Talking too much
Look at the interviewer as a time-pressed analyst, Cushman suggests. ‘Think of yourself as a series of talents and short, quick, strong messages,’ she says. Many people get tongue-tied and start babbling, which can annoy, but this is a question of emphasis. Bob Woodrum says many candidates make the mistake of thinking the interview is about them. ‘It’s about us,’ he stresses, recalling a client who rejected a candidate because they tallied how many times the person said ‘I.’ The rationale? This company’s approach was ‘we’, not ‘I’ so it was afraid of the candidate’s ego.
4. Volunteering too many flaws
Volunteering too much about past mistakes or weaknesses can be deadly. The, ‘Actually, I’m a bit of a perfectionist,’ line is very tired but rattling off an hour of, ‘Telephone calls make me anxious,’ admissions is far worse. Timing is also important. Dale Winston, CEO of Battalia-Winston International, tells of going to meet a candidate whose company had been taken over and was reorganizing. She knew that was why he was interested in talking to her. The first words out of his mouth were, ‘I am no longer employed by the company.’ ‘I did need to know that,’ says Winston, ‘but I did not need to know that before we first sat down and talked.’
One of the key investor relations skills is the ability to deliver information well. ‘We judge candidates on how well they do this,’ says Winston. ‘If you are the vice president of a company and have to go to your boss with a bad quarterly result you had better be able to present that in an effective way, and deliver as much of a positive bend as possible. That’s what executives are hired to do and you need to demonstrate this during the course of the interview.’ So when you are asked about your biggest mistake, don’t go into great detail about how you lost the company $10 mn. Rather, be succinct about mistakes and what you learned from the experience, Winston advises.
5. Not listening
Eager candidates often shake hands, sit down and deliver their speech. They tell a company what it should do before hearing what it wants. ‘There is always a reason for a company to hire a new person, and you need to know what it is. It’s hiring you to solve a particular problem – so if you don’t know or address it you won’t get the job,’ says Woodrum. That’s especially true in IR. You can talk to the Street and find out what their problems are. ‘But listen first to their problems and concerns. Listen,’ urges Woodrum. ‘You may know a hundred things they need to do but they may want you to solve only one problem.’
6. Criticizing past employers
A candidate should never be hypercritical of past employers. A little constructive criticism is okay, notes Fred Stone, such as saying, ‘I left because I passionately believe that the company should go in this direction and they passionately believe that they should go in the other direction.’ But, saying it was a horrible organization rife with internal politics, sloppy management and idiotic directors makes you look negative, bitter and maybe even a little unhinged. ‘In the long term that person may say the same thing about you; and they may not be as circumspect as the investor relations role requires,’ says Stone.
7. Being disrespectful to others
Remember: everyone you meet during an interview, on the way into the interview, or after you have gotten up from the interview chair counts. Those who smile and show all their teeth when the boss appears, moments after being rude to the secretary, may get stung. One headhunter offers a story of an employer’s strategy for determining whether the candidate will be a team player. After a few rounds of interviews, the top candidate is invited to a lunch meeting with the boss. The boss’s secretary meets the candidate and says the boss is held up, can you wait? Some 30 minutes later the secretary says the boss apologizes, but he is with the chairman dealing with a crisis and would like to reschedule. Then she offers to take the candidate to lunch instead. If the answer is no, then no offer. If it’s yes and the candidate treats the secretary – a key member of the team – with respect, then the offer is theirs. Several people have lost jobs this way. Not to mention a free lunch.
8. Failure to follow up
The interview can go swimmingly, but candidates may look unreliable due to lack of follow-up. Cushman suggests bringing a small pad to the interview. If the interviewer says something important, ask if you can note it down. At the end, clarify what you may need to get to the person – names, contacts – as well as other meetings that need to be arranged. Many people are too nervous to get such details straight during an interview; having it down on paper allows for proper follow-up.
Bob Woodrum notes that people do lose offers because they do not send thank you notes. He suggests sending a note to every single person you have met. After all, they have given you time and consideration. Better to be an employed sychophant than one who plays it cool but gets overlooked. Many people say that is a good idea and then don’t send him a note, Woodrum says.
9. Don’t try to fake it
As they say, honesty is the key to all relationships – if you can fake that, you’re laughing. On a serious note, honest and open communication is as relevant to the interview process as to IR, says Fred Stone. ‘If it looks like you took a sideways or backwards step in your career, don’t try to dress it up to look like a step up. The employer can find out what they need to know,’ he says. Also, be honest about your strengths and about areas where you lack experience. Smart employers will recognize where they can train you, but if a company makes an investment in you and it doesn’t work out, it can be damaging to your career, says Stone.
10. Parties are no time to relax
Dinners or parties with potential employers are all judgement zones. Carol Ruth says she once invited someone to a Christmas party and they got drunk. ‘And that was the end of that.’
Additional reporting by Neil Gibbons.
