Another Intellectual Poison How to Post
or How NOT to Interview for a Job

We've been engaged in a fairly continuous process of replacing our sales staff and adding the odd new position as the company continues to grow and expand. As a result, we've been doing a fair number of interviews of potential candidates. The general practice is that the large stacks of resumes are sifted through, a few possibles are called in for first interviews, the winners in that process come back for a second round of interviews with the senior staff members and then, the lucky winners from that are asked back to present a sample presentation of how they would work through a sales call at Company X.

By the time a candidate has gotten through the second round of interviews and begun working on the presentation, they have invested many hours of prep time, we've invested several hours of interview time and discussion time. After we have a few candidates come through the interview mill, we gather in the conference room (I guess it'd be conference room 1 since we only have one but maybe we should think about naming it just to sound cool) and discuss the candidates, sometimes we use scoresheets as well as discussing each person in a round table format.

I've learned quite a bit from the process and would like to take a minute or two to pass along some of the findings for your next interview.

Interview Don'ts
1. Do not deliver a non-proofed resume to anyone. Poor formatting, poor spelling and other easily fixed mistakes are the fastest way to see your resume tossed in the trash. Also, use white paper, don't print resumes on special pretty paper even if you just want it to stand out, it'll stand out and go right into the garbage.
2. Unless you were an astronaut, a brain surgeon or other high end, super complex professional, don't allow your resume to go over a single page. If you can't sum up your life in a single page for the purpose of getting a job then you're not trying. And having to read multiple pages about working at seven different companies doing, essentially, the same thing is stupid. Summarize.
3. Don't say one thing one day and then start doing the exact opposite the next day. We had one candidate who let us know about another offer he had but that he wasn't interested in it because it posed no challenge and wasn't full time. Come to find out the next week that he had to think about the other job more (most likely in an effort to get us to bump up our offer), his job offer was withdrawn and he got back in touch last week to see if we could reopen the negotiations which seems to indicate to us that he was trying to play two companies against each other and both said, "Uh No!".
4. Don't cut off your interviewer when they are speaking. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Its not. Last person I interviewed had so much to say that she kept interrupting me to get her two cents in. Made it very hard to get a flow, luckily she was beautiful so that made it easier.
5. Don't embellish your life to make it more interesting. Embellish is just another, more gentile word for lying. Lie in an interview and you start the relationship off on the wrong foot, get caught lying and any chance you had with that company should be gone. Stick to the truth, its easier to remember.
6. Dress nicely but make sure everything goes together, ask someone with a better sense of style and fashion to critique your outfit.
7. Don't make demands, don't tell people how to do their jobs. Do try to adopt the mentality of working from within the team and offer ideas.
8. Don't try to dictate the interview, allow the interviewer to follow whatever tack he or she chooses. Keep in mind that they have the job, you want the job therefore its incumbent upon you to follow. Trying to lead an interview from the interviewee chair is the fastest way I can think of to be labeled as a pain in the ass and a non-team player.
9. Don't say anything negative about your last job. Couch examples and reasons of why you left in a positive light. Don't talk about what an asshole your last boss was. Why? Because if you trash your last boss then there's a damned good expectation that you'll talk shit about your next boss and that might be the person interviewing you. Also, don't stab your ex-coworkers in the back, it reflects poorly on you and can make you an outsider from the start.
10. Don't lie about your abilities. Don't inflate your numbers, don't say you have industry relationships that you really don't have. If you do get the job and then are found out to be a liar then your job just became far more difficult.
11. Don't discuss your personal life beyond very vague generalities. Don't give more information than is asked for. One interview happened to mention a potential conflict of interest because of a sick family member that I was compelled to inform my boss of, if this person got hired and then it became an issue then I would be partially responsible for creating a poor dynamic.
12. Don't be cocky or arrogant. Don't assume that the interview is a formality. Arrogance in an interview is completely offputting and is almost a sure sign that you won't get the job. Anyone stupid enough to be arrogant during the interview is almost certain to be damned near impossible to work with.
13. Don't. EVER. Refer to yourself in the third person. That's a sign of utter self absorption and no one ever wants to work with someone who does this. Its incredibly annoying and makes pacifists consider extreme violence. Unless you're God, stick with the first person.
14. This one is pretty obvious but I'm stating here just in case, don't stereotype, don't insult, don't taint a professional interview with your personal opinions. Don't politicize, don't editorialize, don't rant and don't wander off on tangents.
15. Don't ever engage in toilet humor or off color jokes, in fact, stay away from jokes altogether. Show some personality but keep it above board and keep it very, very superficial.
I'm sure there are a couple of dozen other interview don'ts that could be added here but this is a pretty good place to start.

With all that said, enjoy the interview process. Its not intended to be adversarial, its intended to allow both parties to get a glimpse at what the other has to offer.