Month: April 2012

These are examples of behaviors that candidates have exhibited in interviews that have cost them not only the job they were interviewed for, but also any future opportunities with the same company. They from my own experience as well as stories told to me by other recruiters, interviewers, and hiring managers of my acquaintance.

1) Swearing in an interview. It is inappropriate to use foul language in an interview. It would seem to be common sense, but we recently had a candidate who dropped the "f bomb" during a lunch interview.

2) Making a racial slur. Even if you feel "sympatico" with an interviewer, remember that you are in a professional environment and that it is never okay to denigrate anyone on the basis of ethnicity, lifestyle, religion, marital/family status, etc. Ever.

3) Ask about *another* job you are interested in, not the one you are interviewing for. The time to do that is when you are talking to the recruiter, not when you are actually in the interviews. If you don’t want the job or are actually more interested in a different position, don’t waste everyone’s time trying to weasel your way into another position. This has happened twice in the last couple of months and all it does is turn the hiring manager off.

4) Pull your cell phone out to either check your mail/texts or take a call. One of my colleagues was sitting in the final interview with the General Manager and the candidate. The candidate’s phone rang and he took the call. It cost him an offer for the job.

5) Moderation in your personal presentation. A team once went with another candidate because one guy had on so much cologne it took a whole day to air out the interview room.

6) Maintain *eye* contact. From a female friend of mine: At a former employer, I was once part of a panel interview with a candidate. The entire hour, he did not look at the face of any interviewer…he only looked at my chest.

7) Dress for success. "Best ever- candidate shows up to interview in full Japanese kimono outfit. " There is nothing wrong with being proud of your cultural heritage, but part of the interview process is making sure there is a cultural fit. If in doubt, ask the recruiter what the dress code is for the interviews.

8) Personal hygiene is a must: I had one guy pick his nose during and interview and then ask to shake hands.

9) Communication skills: Candidate talked way too much about his personal life during the interview. Just because *you* think it’s a positive that you do" X", that doesn’t mean other people will agree.

10) Market yourself positively. When interviewing a candidate, we got to the question "tell me about your weaknesses" , and she said she has never been able to throw away a piece of paper, and has organized stacks of paper all surrounding her desk, and then kept going on about other weaknesses….we asked her to stop and tell us about some of her strengths.

11) Preparing for the job and interview (i.e. a portfolio): My company was interviewing a web developer who came in for a group interview. I Googled him to see what kinds of work had his name on it, and a blog site popped up. I went to it and it was broken; a syntax error in a file. I brought it to his attention during the interview, and he said basically that he hadn’t seen the need to fix it. A few days later it was still broken.

It truly amazes recruiters, interviewers and hiring managers what some candidates will (not) do during interviews.

There has been a lot of publicity around employers requesting Facebook passwords for employees, or asking candidates to log into their personal FB accounts during interviews. Recently, Facebook endorsed a bill in MI that would make it illegal to request passwords to personal account information. "Employers most often want to tap into employees’ and job applicants’ Facebook pages, where personal and family photos, and private information such as religious and political affiliations and relationship status is readily available…It’s a very direct way to get around all the pre-employment laws that have been put in place to protect people over the last 35 to 40 years or so," said Paul Opsommer -R, sponsor and state representative. This quote is the gist of the problem. It is a blatant violation of the Terms of Use every user signs. It also invades the privacy of anyone that is identified via your account in photos, wall posts, relationship status. Maryland is also poised to enact a bill that would be the first in the country addressing this issue. <a href="http://www.pcworld.com/article/254181/maryland_leads_nation_in_banning_employers_facebook_snooping_efforts.html"></a>

As our society becomes so much more transparent, it is almost inevitable that privacy policies will arise. We check in places with our phones, post our relationship status on Facebook, Tweet when we are going on vacation and sharing photos from Maui. Some employers are using this shift in social habits as an advantage to utilize free tools to help make determinations about employee and candidate suitability for their organization. Professionally, my own stance is that this whole practice is an invasion of privacy, unreliable, and too much of a risk for discrimination lawsuit. The only times I ever use Facebook for "work" is to post a job and sometimes to send a candidate a message.

There are only a few choices for candidates that are concerned about practices like this. Before you go into the interview, ask the HR/Recruiting representative that you are working with if this is a practice their company employs; this will allow you to make the decision as to whether or not you want to go forward. In the interview, there are a few other options. The first is, of course, refuse to do this during an interview; the choice may be dependent on how badly you need the job. You can say it is a violation of your terms and services; you can say you don’t remember your password; you can tell the interviewer/s that you are not comfortable allowing them access to other people’s information, and that this practice is a violation of HIPAA (an HR professional should know what this means). You could lie and tell them that you don’t have a Facebook account and direct them to your LinkedIn profile (but keep in mind if you do that, and an employer researches and finds an account that is under your name and they can identify you, this is grounds for disqualification for any jobs.)

Other choices involve the content of your account. You could delete your entire account and start over with a new name (maybe a different spelling on the one you use or by a nickname). Delete anything that might be "damning" such as risque photos/status updates, information such as your relationship status/gender interest, religious views, and of course any posts by you or anyone else on your wall that could reflect badly on your general character. Lock down your profile tightly. Be very careful what you "like" in terms of any of the above mentioned subjects.

A longer term view might be to make your state and federal congressional representatives and senators aware of the fact that you find this is intolerable. It is only by voicing your views that the government will consider putting protections in place to guard your privacy. I foresee this practice being banned eventually but until then it is your choice and responsibility to safeguard your online profiles, including those of your circle of contacts.

‘Tis that time of year again for recruiting organizations: spring career fair season. Yesterday one of my colleagues and I attended the University of Washington spring career fair, which is attended by both graduating seniors and some freshman/sophomore/junior students looking for internships. And it never fails to amaze me, year after year, that the same conversations take place.

We get in about 30-60 minutes early to set up our table. Putting out flyers, giveaways (pens, lanyards and candy this year). Then we wait for the first rush, which usually lasts for an hour or so. And here is the basic exchange between the employer and the prospective employee.

Student walks up. ‘Hi, my name is John Doe. What does your company do and what are you hiring for?’

Me: ‘Hi John, I’m Kristen. We are a software and media company. What are you looking for, an internship or a full-time position? What is your major or area of concentration?’

My colleague and I each had this conversation about 100 times each. Now, mind you, there are flyers on the table right in front of both of us that tell you about the company, the types of internships and entry level positions we usually hire for.

I’ve attended a *lot* of job fairs in my career as a recruiter, both for collegiate and industry audiences. And I must tell you that it does not make a good impression if you come to a table and say ‘what do you do’? I’ve never attended a job fair where we didn’t send a blurb on ahead about the company and sample job descriptions or actual positions we are hiring for.

Respectfully, I would request a few things from students looking for any sort of position. Please, research the companies you will be talking to. Just a basic knowledge of their industry should suffice. Keep in mind that I have provided you with information that you can easily look up. When you walk up to me, it is the first time I’ve ever seen and heard of you.

A better approach would be:

Student: ‘Hi, my name is John Doe, and I’m a junior Computer Science major looking for a summer internship in application development. I see that your software media company has listed that you are hiring software interns; can you tell me how I would apply, and how long the internships are?’

This allows me to arrow in directly on how to answer your question, give you the information I have, and quickly move on to speaking with the three people standing behind you. It also saves me from having to pry out of you that you are theater major and to disappoint you after we’ve established a rapport. It also sounds more polished and professional and that you have put time into the first impression you are making.