How to avoid dumping cold water on your search

We have all seen pictures or videos about the Ice Bucket Challenge. Our group conducted our own office challenge a couple weeks back.  The boys raised more money than the girls and had the privilege of dumping giant Rubbermaid containers filled to the brim with ice cold water on them.  Talk about team building.......

I have countless stories of candidates and employers who have dumped the proverbial bucket of ice water on themselves to completely kill the momentum in an interview process or general job search.  Follow these simple tips to avoid doing it in your own search:

1)  Talking poorly about a former colleague or employer.  Most people think this isn't a big deal, especially if the hiring manager brings something up first.  But it is never, ever a good idea to jump on that train and go for a ride.  Sometimes it can even be a trap.  If an astute interviewer knows something about a former employer they may ask a leading question to see what comes up.  Or throw out a jab themselves.  It is far better to take the high road 100 times out of 100.

2)  Sharing inappropriate stories from the past.  If the hiring manager begins talking about last year's tailgate parties for your football team, it is best to just listen and not over-share on your end.  It is fine to root for common teams and that can actually prove to be a good tipping point in some conversations.  But it crosses the line when you start mentioning things that could be deemed inappropriate for the workplace.  Especially if you are in a group interview setting.  It is quite possible others in the group don't want to hear about your pre-game shenanigans.  It could very likely reflect poorly on you.

3)  Talking too much.  I just had this happen last week with an interview.  On paper the candidate was perfect for the job.  It was the final stage in the process and the candidate had already impressed several people on the team.  The sales leader was the final say in the hire, and the candidate simply said too much.  Never asked a single question about the sales leader's background, the company, their process, or anything related to the job.  Simply spoke and spoke and spoke and spoke about them self.  Game over.

4)  Being unprepared.  Unfortunately I had a candidate show up to an interview (that we had prepped them for) only to say she had no idea what job she was interviewing for.  As you can imagine that did not get the conversation off on the right foot.  And we heard about it from the employer.  The interview lasted about fifteen minutes and the candidate couldn't believe that she wasn't invited back for another conversation.

Have you ever dumped cold water on an interview?  Or seen it happen from the other side of the table as an employer/hiring manager?  I would love to hear your stories!

Scot Dickerson, CPC
President

Capstone Search