:::Bangs Head Against Desk::: Interviews

Not interviews for me but people I was interviewing. Out of the people who were scheduled to interview last week only 1 was interviewed without incident. By the end of the week I was banging my head against my desk in disbelief, I thought people actually wanted jobs in this era....guess I missed the mark on that one.

Now by this point you should know the do's and don't of interviewing but I'll give you a quick recap and lessons learned from the 3 of this past week.

Interview 1: Schedule for Monday 2pm. Receive an e-mail at 11am with an elaborate excuse saying they will not be able to interview today. Reschedule for 12noon the following day. The candidate shows up, unprepared, dressed in a very casual down jacket, business casual attire and white socks...yes white gym sock. The candidate had no enthusiasm even when asked about outside hobbies or interests, was disconnected and seemed distracted throughout the interview.

Lessons learned:

1.) Short of death show up to the interview! Even if you are a bit sick it's better to show up rather than give the employer any reason to doubt you, showing up in this circumstance will show determination and drive. If you must for whatever reason cancel, do it over the phone.
2.) If you do not have a "dress" jacket i.e. peacoat, overcoat, etc. do not wear a casual jacket into the interview. Even if it's cold outside it's only the walk from your car to the office. It looks very unprofessional and unpolished.
3.) DO NOT WEAR WHITE SOCKS! This is something that drives me up the wall, last time I checked I was not interviewing Michael Jackson. Regardless of the outfit this just looks ugly and unprofessional.
4.) Have a personality and answers to the questions. Do not respond with one or two word answers, be able to carry a conversation based upon the question. If you are asked "What are your hobbies and passions outside of work and you can't come up with an answer ...that is not a good thing.
5.) At least pretend you're paying attention and are interested.

Interview 2: Showed up on time, was prepared, dressed perfectly, organized, and ready to rock. Was a bit soft spoken but that could be nerves or personality but thats ok. Was able to carry a conversation based off questions and had great 2 way communication with stories and experiences.

Lessons Learned: They knew what they were doing, everything was done properly....great chance of getting the position.

Interview 3: Scheduled for 11. Never showed up, never called, never e-mailed. When we placed a call to his cell phone it was off and our message was never retuned.

Lessons Learned: You have got to be kidding me. If you really didn't want the interview that bad then why did you schedule it in the first place?

So 2/3 interviews were horrible or didn't even happen. Please do not let interview 1 and 3 be descriptions of you, it does not look good and you never know who talks to who in the business and HR world these days. Heck someone might even have a blog recounting interview horror stories!