I've been on both sides of the table during interviews, and this has inspired me to write out a bit of advice for both employers and job applicants.
During interviews, what continues to astonish me is that employers do not seem to generally understand that they are being interviewed, too - if the person talking to you gets a bad impression of the position, the work environment, or you, they are much less likely to take the job.
In the interest of helping out employers everywhere, here are a few suggestions:
1) If you are out of practice for smiling, make sure you limber up your facial muscles before the interview. If you don't, your smile will look like a grimace. While this talent comes in handy at Halloween, it's probably not worth the trade off.
2) When asking for feedback about your companies website, be prepared for both positive and negative comments. If the job applicant tactfully says that something could be improved, do not turn to them and say "well, we're not going to change this!" The job applicant is probably testing you, and you just failed.
3) Be nice to people when you are interviewing them if you want them to join the company. If you don't want them to join, feel free to be as awful as you like.
4) If the job applicant is talking to the VP next, do not tell the job applicant that the VP is going to retire unless you are sure that this is public knowledge. It gets you into trouble and puts the job applicant into a very difficult position.
5) Do not decrease the salary range offered on the job between the first interview and the last. There is no way for the job applicant to take this well.
As I mentioned, I've been on both sides of the interview table and here is some (slightly more serious) advice for job applicants:
1) Write a cover letter. This creates a positive first impression and reassures the employer that you are interested in the position and have read the job description (which is not a given). If you're not interested enough to write a cover letter, don't apply in the first place.
2) For similar reasons, write thank you notes. Not everyone does this, but it creates a good impression.
3) Do your homework before you show up for the interview. Print out press releases, highlight interesting bits and bring them to the interview. Ask the people who are interviewing you about them.
4) One of the great advantages about interviewing is that you have a fresh perspective on their problems and may catch things that people at the company miss. Ask questions and air any good ideas; you'll look like a genius.
5) Be confident. Sad to say, but sometimes it's not so much what you say, but how you say it that really counts.
Hope this helps anyone out there interviewing. If you have any stories you'd like to add, post a comment.
Good luck!
