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Keeping your shoes on in your next interview

Nowhere does Murphy’s Law ring more true than in an interview. It’s a gauntlet. Something through which job seekers are forced to pass, hoping to make it out the other end intact; a series of carefully devised challenges, tailored to incite confusion, anxiety, and, sometimes, (mild) panic. For many job seekers, living through an interview might appear like surviving the garbage compactor—a room of sodden of trash and debris, its walls closing in without any evident means of escape—into which Luke Skywalker and his motley gang tumble in “A New Hope.” While some job seekers may face this daunting challenge with greater air of confidence and courage than others, the experience strikes every job seeker with the same, inextricable fear. And some job seekers, unsure of how to handle the situation or pressure, box themselves in, committing some of the most egregious interviewing sins.

What are these missteps? Contributor to CareerBuilder’s TheWorkBuzz, Kaitlin Madden documents some of these misbehaviors in her recent article “10 unusual interview mistakes, and 6 that are all too common,” detailing some of the most troubling, and surreal interview experiences reported by hiring managers.

  • “Candidate brought a ‘how to interview book’ with him to the interview.”
  • “Candidate asked, ‘What company is this again?’”
  • “Candidate put the interviewer on hold during a phone interview. When she came back on the line, she told the interviewer that she had a date set up for Friday.”
  • “Candidate wore a Boy Scout uniform and never told interviewers why.”
  • “Candidate talked about promptness as one of her strengths after showing up 10 minutes late.”
  • “On the way to the interview, candidate passed, cut off and flipped the middle finger to a driver who happened to be the interviewer.”
  • “Candidate referred to himself in the third person.”
  • “Candidate took off his shoes during interview.”
  • “Candidate asked for a sip of the interviewer’s coffee.”
  • “A mature candidate told the interviewer she wasn’t sure if the job offered was worth “starting the car for.’”

While the above may be outliers—foibles committed by a very small percentage of job seekers—there are behaviors, which, unfortunately, are more pervasive. Interview activities in which job seekers unwittingly engage which could lead them to debarment. Although the below represent only the most common “errors,” says Madden, job seekers should take steps to avoid common errors, such as those listed below, which could lead a hiring manager to prematurely eject them from the candidate pool.

  • “Answering cell phone or texting: 77 percent”
  • “Appearing disinterested: 75 percent”
  • “Dressing inappropriately: 72 percent”
  • “Appearing arrogant: 72 percent”
  • “Talking negatively about current or previous employers: 67 percent”
  • “Chewing gum: 63 percent”

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