Yes, You are hired! Now, can you do headstands?
Yes, the economy! Still tanking, still reeling under the economic crisis, still sucking! So if you are out there still looking for a job, The Wall Street Journal has some ideas on how not to suck at an interview.
Tips include the famous
- Don’t arrive late
-Don’t dress sloppily
-Don’t act over familiar
-No typos in resume
-Don’t talk about salary or benefits off the bat
-Don’t be fidgety, keep a pen and notepad handy, and always take a copy of your resume with you
- A follow up thank-you email is enough, no need for cards and balloons.
But more than these tips, I found this survey- of 500 HR managers of the Society for Human Resource Management- insightful.
- 30% of hiring managers will decide whether to hire you within 15 minutes (Aha! So need to babble about thinking out of the box, or being a team player, post 15 minute mark, methinks!)
- 40% of hiring managers say a cellphone ringing in the middle of an interview is a “deal breaker” (Duh!)
- 70% prefer job candidates to have unpaid internship experience directly related to their companies’ work versus paid employment in an unrelated field (Yes, so please slave away at an unpaid internship, denying yourself the chance to make any real money, to keep your head above water, in a sinking city; so that when you meet said HR manager, you can show them how serious you are about finding a job in the field you are applying for.)
- 39% say “chemistry” with a job applicant accounts for half of their hiring decision
