My son, Jack, is six years old as are his friends. I get to watch he and his friends eat with some regularity and I'll just say Hannibal and the Roman armies as they are depicted in old movies eat with better manners than they do.
Food lands on their clothes and flies everywhere. It is eaten with hands despite frequent demands not to do so.
And then I started to notice how job applicant manners can sometimes be infantile, too, and decided to write this column. Here are a few reminders about do's and don'ts.
1. Arrive at the interview early, particularly with human resources. It should go without saying but, unfortunately needs to be said because people keep arriving at their interviews late. Five minutes. 20 minutes. 45 minutes late. It's all rude.
2. If you are late, apologize and explain. Don't pretend that nothing happened. Acknowledge it. Two of my clients will reject someone for not explaining a lateness, thinking that if they are rude when they are supposed to be polite, what will they do when they are comfortable.
3. Remember to spell check before you hit send. I confess to making this mistake, particularly with my blog and ezine, and, fortunately, I have gotten better with this mistake. Readers have told me how a spelling mistake (they are generally caused by typos) irks them. Now imagine what it is like when someone reads your resume and it is replete with spelling errors.
4. Turn your cell off and make sure your PDA/Blackberry doesn't chime, chirp or beep during the interview. I recently wrote about the job hunter who took a call for 5 minutes while in an interview, keeping the hiring manager waiting throughout. UGH!
5. For lunch or dinner meetings, don't focus on the food and forget the person. Your interview is more important than fixating on the appetizer, no matter how good it is. Oh, yes, don't eat like Jack.
6. Don't rush through or brush off the application. An application is a legal document. At most companies, completing it inaccurately or falsely is grounds for dismissal. Rushing through it, unless asked to do so, sends a message to the employer of disrespect (they will have trouble reading your handwriting when you rush). Do everything well.
7. Make sure your voice mail at home, at the office and on your cell sound professional. A child's voice is adorable. Really. But put yourself into the caller's shoes and imagine what it is like to listen to the voices of so many children's and family's messages. Something like, "This is Adam (the child), Lois (the mother) and Roger (the father). (TOGETHER) Please leave a message when you hear the beep."
8. Send a "Thank you email" after the interview. Look them right in the eye, shake their hand and thank them for interviewing you and tell them of your interest in the job. Speak sincerely. Then send a thank you email afterwards.
Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com
© 2007 all rights reserved.
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.
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