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Written by: Tracy P. Miller
Editor, Publisher
TearTaylor's Career Corner
I’m sure in preparing for your interviews you took considerable time to review different career sites or books to get tips on what to say and not to say during interviews, how to dress for interviews, probably how to sit, how to stand, and probably even how to shake the interviewer’s hand. But, during all that reading, did you stumble on anything that suggested how you should behave outside of your actual interview? In case you didn’t, this article should help you in putting your best foot forward around people other than the interviewer when you're visiting at a company.
Being Nice Can Go A Long Way
It’s extremely important for you to project a professional image with any and everyone that you come in contact with at an organization. This means being friendly and courteous to the receptionist that greets you when you first arrive to the secretary that politely escorts you back to her boss’ office for the actual interview. These people, though they won’t have any formal input concerning whether you get the job or not, will definitely help to send out their own either positive or negative reviews about you.
In the past, I personally witnessed this fact in an instance where a receptionist, who was impressed with a job applicant she had spent time chatting with before his interview, pulled me aside later in the day to tell me what she thought about him. I remembered her delivering her speech as though she was feverishly chanting it on behalf of her own nephew. She talked about how well dressed the applicant was, how nice he smelled, how polite he seemed and how educated he sounded. Then she finally ended with, “I know my vote don’t count for nothing around here, but it would be such a shame to let someone as nice as him get away. This place could really use some more smart and friendly people.”
The Interviewing Process
Not only did I find myself pulled aside often by folks who wanted to share their positive accounts of candidates, but I also got pulled aside just as often to hear workers badmouthing candidates that didn't seem as friendly. If you're wondering how employees, outside of the interviewer that is, could end up having so much contact with job applicants, it's because employees, at least at the company that I previously worked at, were often asked to help out with pre-interview greetings and to-and-from candidate transports. What do I mean by this? Well, employees that worked closely with interviewers were often asked to help out in making sure an applicant's day ran smoothly. To help keep a candidate on course for the day, an interviewer's secretary was often asked to help get a candidate from point A to point B, especially in delivering full-round candidates.
What was the day like for full-round candidates? Well, these guys normally met with 8 interviewers over the course of one long day. The candidate's interview day usually started at 8:30 am and wrapped up anywhere from 4:15 to 5:00 pm. Since these applicants were constantly being hauled from one floor to another to meet with one interviewer after the next, secretaries played a key role in helping to keep these guys on schedule and also in getting them to their next destination. Because of their ongoing assistance in transporting candidates, secretaries were able to see rare sides of the candidates that we recruiters and interviewers weren't in positions to witness. Not only did they get to see the applicants behaving at their best, but they also got to observe them at their worst, usually when their guards were coming down as a result of exhaustion at selling themselves repeatedly to different interviewers.
Rude Behavior Can Be Costly
One case in particular that I’d like to share the details of is concerning a female applicant that was invited in for a fullround interview. Because her interviewer unfortunately had an outside meeting with a client and was having difficulty getting back to the office in time, she had to sit and wait 30 minutes before the interview could commence. But, until the interviewer arrived, she decided to use her time unwisely. Instead of reading a magazine or jotting down some questions to ask the interviewer at the end of the meeting, she chose to lounge in his favorite big leather chair and also made a phone call from his office. Unfortunately for her, the interviewer’s secretary Pam was sitting right outside the office at the time and quietly recording the details.
Sadly, this candidate’s mistakes didn’t just stop there but another one occurred right after the interview. As the applicant was being led from the interviewer's office, the candidate stopped, turned and then said to Pam, “I’m sorry but I’ve got to make one quick phone call before going to my next interview. Can I use that phone there?” Before even receiving the okay, the applicant had already extended her hand to lift up the phone’s receiver.
As I’m sure you've probably guessed, once Pam had escorted this young lady to her final interviewer she wasted no time in calling me to give me the full rundown on this candidate’s rude behavior. Plus, she wasted no time in sharing the details with her boss, and as I'm sure you've also probably figured out by now, Pam's boss, the person that actually interviewed the applicant, voted not to hire the woman.
Summing Things Up
So to make sure you don't get voted out of a job because of bad or questionable manners, always act as though an interviewer is standing over your shoulders and monitoring your every move. Act your best all the time, not just when the interviewer is present. Be polite and friendly with everyone you come in contact with. Treat the company's custodial worker the same way you would the company's president; never be less courteous to people just because they hold a low or inferior position at the company.
Also, if you take anything with you from this writing, remember that people outside of the interviewer's office can also transmit information about you. While their singular observations won't carry as much weight as that of the actual interviewer's, but 2 or 3 complaints combined, coming from several different people that might've had some small contact with you besides the interviewer can prove to be very damaging if the staffing department allows their observations to be introduced into the final tallying process.
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This article
is © 2003-2005 by Tracy
Miller and may not be reposted without written permission from the author
and may not be reprinted for profit.