Interview How Not To's

Don’t forget to turn off your phone when you are on an interview.

Even if you are in the middle of the mall on a bench with a 20 year old manager named Amber for your interview at the chain record store... no one is impressed by your friend’s Rianna remix ringtone, this will not help you land the job. I’m sorry if your fingers are itching to text that you just saw Rachel walking in the mall with Matt and he was holding her hand, DO NOT PICK UP YOUR PHONE.

Don’t wear torn jeans.

Sure, your bf/gf thinks you look “hott” in your new jeans from Abercrombie that look 20 years old, but your future employer sees an accident waiting to happen. If you are applying for a dog walking job, the owner sees a potential choking hazard for her teacup chihahua named Pixie. If you are going to be schlepping sodas at Sonic, the holes in your jeans are no protection whatsoever from potential scrapes and bruises… workers comp waiting to happen.

Don’t use slang when interviewing.

What you really don’t want to do is make yourself hard to understand. For example, do not say the following things:

Interviewer: “Tell me why I should hire you.”
Interviewee: “Yo, dawg, I mean, I’m just really feelin’ it up in here. I’m like, molten hot, dawg. And I know I can turn this joint out.”

Or

Interviewer: “Tell me what you will bring to our organization that we do not already have.”
Interviewee: “Well, like, first of all, you totally have no personality and no style. I can SO bring that, I mean, I like love to shop and am totally good at matching and colors and design-type stuff. I’m gonna own a clothing line one day. I’m like so good at putting stuff together. Yeah. I’ll bring style. That’s what you do not already have, let me tell you.”

Don’t Apply For a Job You Don’t Care About

This seems obvious, but since the only way to get experience is to experience things, you don’t want to waste valuable recon time doing something you know you will never care about. If you have no interest in the hospitality industry, do not bring straws and lemonade to tables of 8 yr. olds. If you believe that photos are a waste of time … for the love of all that is good and right, do not subject the first time mothers at Kiddie Kandids to your attitude. Use each job to learn more about yourself, not more about what you don’t enjoy.

Don’t Be Late

If you are late, you might as well leave. This is never acceptable, it implies that what you have going on is more important to you than what your potential boss has going on. If you send the message that your business is more important than their business, you can kiss that minimum wage check you worked your butt off for, goodbye. This is something that will serve you well throughout your life. Whatever you do, show your respect to others. One good way to do this is by being on time.