9 ways to guarantee you don't get the job

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-arti...t_the_job-1236

I've never been guilty of any of these but the text messaging one in particular really makes me weep for the state of etiquette these days.

[Andara Bledin]

I'm quite happy to say that I would never be caught doing any of those things that have been mentioned here, even while in the thick of desperate job-hunting.

The use of electronic devices during the interview is particularly eggregious.

Of course, I'm not sure the use of something to pass the time quietly while waiting should be considered bad. If the device remains off and untouched throughout the interview, that may be a good sign that the prospect is aware of priorities and knows how to handle them.

^-.-^

[Exaspera]

I can just see me in an interview telling the interviewer, "Oh, hold on, this is an important call. Hello?" :-O

[MaggieTheCat]

I can just see me in an interview telling the interviewer, "Oh, hold on, this is an important call. Hello?" :-O

I actually had that happen once, at the call center where I used to work. I did some of the interviewing for the entry-level call center agents, and I remember several people whose phones went off during the interview. Most of them were embarrassed and immediately turned their phone off -- it was bad enough that it happened in the first place -- but I distinctly remember one person's phone going off while I was in the middle of saying something, and the person interrupting me to say "hold on" and answer the call.

That person did not get a job with us.

[Midorikawa]

whoa. I *facepalm*'d through this entire list. I don't even BRING my phone with me to the interview. I leave it at home, or if I have a more unreliable car, hide it in the center console or similar before going in.

Text messaging a thank you?! REALLY?! What interview training do these people have? Do their parents not teach them proper interview etiquette? Geez. It's times like this I'm thankful I grew up in a military family that teaches you proper etiquette for situations like this...even if Utahns have this strange aversion to being called sir/ma'am. (CEO of my current job yelled at me for calling him sir once, accused me of calling him old )

[RetailWorkhorse]

I don't text, so I'm safe there.

I don't send out resumes (I actually had to create one today because I put in for a seasonal job and it's government-based).

IF YA DON'T KNOW WHAT THE COMPANY DOES THEN FORGET IT. Sheesh.

Only time I "brought my family" was my grandmother was the one to drive me to my first interview with Dollar Tree (she stayed in the car though, I didn't have a car at the time and EQ was in Atlanta for a M:TG thing and couldn't drive me in).

Cell phone's with me all the time, but the ringer gets turned off.

I smile. Deal.

Annnnd I WILL bring a bottle of water with me. Because I never know how long of a wait I'll have and city-water, like in most water-fountains, is nasty. Yuck.

I think these people need to come here and read the How NOT To Get Hired 101 sticky.

[Andara Bledin]

Annnnd I WILL bring a bottle of water with me.

I don't think bringing your own bottled water is a problem so much as people coming in with their Starbucks cups.

^-.-^

[RetailWorkhorse]

I could understand it if they were being interviewed at a rival coffeehouse/gas-station/whatever, but other than that I still don't see why someone can't take a drink with them.

Ngh, I think I'll just leave that one be, it's hurting my poor dumb-dog-brain.

[SG15Z]

Wow who would be stupid enough to do any of those? Geeze. Though texting or whatever on your phone while waiting to go in to the interview? Um what's wrong with that? As long as the phone remains untouched once inside the interview, what's the problem? I call it passing time.

[Magpie]

Wow who would be stupid enough to do any of those? Geeze. Though texting or whatever on your phone while waiting to go in to the interview? Um what's wrong with that? As long as the phone remains untouched once inside the interview, what's the problem? I call it passing time.

It depends on how the waiting area is set up. If you're in a completely private space it's not as bad, but if there's other people around (i.e. workers walking through the area), it's not good to be totally absorbed in your electronics. Gives an anti-social air. A good rule of thumb is to bring some documents to review (print-outs from the company website, to avoid the "what do you do" question). I wouldn't even bring knitting with me, just in case.

[HYHYBT]

Not that it's done me any good, but I wait with nothing to do but observe the environment, and have learnt a good bit from that that might have been useful, had I been hired.

Any time I'm going somewhere it shouldn't be used anyway, the phone stays in the car. That way, if I forget, I have a second option of turning it off; whereas if turning it off were my only plan and I forgot, it might, just possibly, ring. Barring emergencies, of course: if, for example, I had a family member in the hospital, the phone stays on, and on me.