TOP SECRET! I know a lot more about you when you walk in the door than you realize. I’ll search for you on the Web and often use my own personal network to do a pre-interview reference check.
1. It’s amazing when people come in for an interview and say, “Can you tell me about your business?” Seriously, people. There’s an Internet. Look it up.
2. A lot of managers don’t want to hire people with young kids, and they use all sorts of tricks to find that out, illegally. One woman kept a picture of two really cute children on her desk even though she didn’t have children (hoping job candidates would ask about them).
3. Is it harder to get the job if you’re fat? Absolutely. Hiring managers make quick judgments based on stereotypes. They’re just following George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air, who said “I stereotype. It’s faster.”
4. I once had a hiring manager who refused to hire someone because the manager was worried that the car the applicant drove wasn’t nice enough.
5. I’ve seen managers not hire a woman because the environment is mostly male, and they’re worried that no matter how smart or talented she is, she won’t fit in.
6. If you’ve got a weak handshake, I make a note of it.
7. Someone might tell you to “Be yourself” in the interview. Don’t be yourself. That’s the worst advice ever. We don’t want people who are neurotic and quirky and whatever else. All we care about is your skill and experience.
8. I once had someone send me forget-me-not seeds with their thank-you note. Yes, thank me for taking the time, that’s great. But sending me seeds? That’s weird.
9. One time a candidate sent—I love this—a thank-you card with a professional picture of herself, which quite honestly became the running joke for weeks. The picture was blown up and posted in my office with hearts drawn around it.
10. Don’t ever tell me that you have to have this job because you’re going to lose your house, your kids have nothing to eat, your mother has cancer. Companies aren’t a charity.
11. In interviews, everyone works well with others, and everyone learns quickly. Please tell me something else.
TOP SECRET! I know a lot more about you when you walk in the door than you realize. I’ll search for you on the Web and often use my own personal network to do a pre-interview reference check.
12. If you’re a candidate and the hiring manager spends 45 minutes talking about himself, the company, or his Harley, let him. He’s going to come out of the interview saying you’re a great candidate.
13. Don’t just silence your phone for the interview. Turn it all the way off.
SOURCES: HR director at a financial services firm; HR manager at a medical-equipment sales firm; HR professional at a midsize firm in North Carolina; HR manager in St. Cloud, Minnesota; HR professional in New York, New York; Senior HR Executive in New York City; Sharlyn Lauby, HR consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Suzanne Lucas, a former HR executive and the Evil HR Lady on bnet.com; Cynthia Shapiro, former human resources executive and author of Corporate Confidential: 50 Secrets Your Company Doesn’t Want You to Know; Laurie Ruettimann, HR consultant and speaker in Raleigh, North Carolina.