Interviewing Etiquettes

Knowing and understanding etiquettes that relate to pre-interview and interview interactions are critical to moving to the next steps and finally getting that offer you are after. The following tips provide some easy pointers for managing your telephone calls, you actions during a job interview, and immediately afterwards.

Telephone Calls

Telephone calls are the mainstay of networking and interview communication. And yet, few follow the etiquettes to make this a pleasant experience! The following etiquettes are a summary of some of the key telephone etiquettes:

Incoming calls:

1. Have a businesslike greeting on your voice mail.  Identify yourself and your telephone number in the greeting.
2. With the caller ID a standard feature now do not install security screens on incoming calls. These filters can be a barrier to callers trying to reach you, including your potential employers. Use voice screening instead, available on most recorded messaging machines.
3. Have a separate line for all your Internet activity. An Internet connection on a line can block it for hours and frustrate those who are trying to reach you, including your potential employers. With broadband connections now becoming common, this is less of a problem.
4. If a call comes at a time when it is inconvenient for you to take it, explain why and ask if you can call them back at a time that is best for them.
5. If you are angry, upset, or feel that you are not in balance, let the machine take the incoming call.
6. Do not betray your emotions or state of mind to the caller. Telephone calls are notoriously sensitive to the way your tone comes across to the other party. Be very aware of this and manage your emotional state for all calls, incoming and outgoing!
7. Use your cell phone line only for urgent and brief calls. Do not conduct a telephone interview on a cell phone.

Outgoing calls:

Make outgoing calls at a time that does not impose on the called party. Typically these times are on a weekday: 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM (9:00 PM is preferred) for calls made to a home, and during regular business hours for all business calls; weekends 10 AM to 6 PM for all home calls. Avoid dinner or lunch hours even for home calling. The only exceptions may be those within your closest contacts.

1. If you are calling someone on their cell phone, ask if they can talk or politely ask where they are so that if they are driving you may want to ask them for a more convenient time to for that call.
2. When the called person answers your call, immediately identify yourself fully-and not by merely saying “Hi this is Dave-so that you can engage in a conversation without the called person having to wonder “which Dave is this?” and losing time in engaging with you right away. Also, do not assume that even though they have answered the call that they are free to talk to you then; they may be in the middle of something important.
3. When leaving a message on the voice mail, immediately announce your name and call back telephone number, leave a brief message (20 seconds) and repeat your name and call back telephone number at the end. Include best time to call so that you do not play telephone tags.
4. If you want to get the caller’s attention make sure that your voice mail is at the top of the stack in their morning voice mail retrieval routine. Leave a message late at night or very early in the morning (emails are its exact opposite in how they are queued up in the mail box.).
5. If you called someone and the line gets disconnected, no matter what the reason, caller reinitiates the call. The called person waits for the phone to ring again for a few minutes otherwise they will go about their business. This is why calling on or using cell phone for critical calls is not a good idea.
6. Do not discuss sensitive, gossipy, or personally offensive, or insinuating information on the phone. If you want to give some adverse feedback to the person over the phone ask them to meet you and do it in person. Likewise, do not leave messages of similar nature on someone’s voicemail.
7. Keep your calls brief and to the point.
8. Always be clear on what the next step is and who is accountable for it before you hang up.

Interviews

Interview etiquettes range from how you appear for the interview to what to do with your briefcase when you are ready to sit down prior to the interview, to how you leave the lobby on your way out! The following is a suggested listing of etiquette that governs these behaviors:

1. Be on time for the interview. In fact the guideline is to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the interview and get settled. This way if the venue is changes and you have to go across the campus to another building you’ll still have time to be on schedule.
2. Dress appropriately for the interview: dress up and not down. You can always remove one or more pieces of your clothing and carry with you if you suddenly feel that you’re overdressed!
3. Dress conservatively. If you need help visit a clothing store that specializes in business attire and seek advice of floor personnel. Do not plan to make a statement with your clothes; you may not get past it. Do not let your clothes enter the door before you do!
4. Introduce yourself to the receptionist and state why you are there, whom you are going to see and when. Mention that you are early and not to announce you quite yet. Make friends with this person by holding a casual conversation. Do not demand a beverage or any other service from this person. They have job to do–typically answering phone calls, and greeting visitors.
5. Do not make any adverse comments about the parking facilities, temperature in the room, coffee (too strong!) or any thing else to the receptionist (Lobby Ambassador). You really do not know how this person is connected. In one instance a candidate made an off the cuff disparaging comment about the person who might be running the company at which he was interviewing, not realizing that the receptionist was CEO’s daughter doing a summer internship there!
6. When your time comes to have you be announced to the host or the interviewer do not assume that the receptionist would remember this. A variety of duties in which they are engaged can easily distract them from your needs. If that person is on the phone for a while, wait patiently even though your time to be calling your contact is well past and you cannot get this person’s attention. If appropriate hand the person a note politely and unobtrusively.
7. If you spill something in the lobby as you wait for your time, clean up, even if the receptionist does not see the spill. Often, these people and others who causally come in contact with you are asked to report their impressions of you for critical positions.
8. When the interviewer or their representative comes to greet you, be cordial even if they have kept you waiting. Do not suggest their lateness by looking at your wristwatch. Smile and shake hands. Let them lead you to the place where the interview is going to take place. Practice some icebreakers with this person on the way to the interview.
9. At the place of the interview, asked to be seated and then sit down comfortably where you can put your briefcase or other interview paraphernalia. Place it down on the floor and not on the desk or table in front of you!
10. Do not interrupt the interviewer. Do not argue even if you know that the interviewer is wrong!
11. Take notes on a note pad and not on a laptop or a handheld device close to your face!
12. Do not ask any questions about the company’s woes to the interviewer, the answers to which may put that person in a compromising light. You are also likely to compromise your chances of getting in. Once a client, while being interviewed by a company’s CEO asked him about the SEC investigation that was announced in the media the morning of her interview. After several rounds of successful interviews she was a shoo-in. This question put off the CEO and the process died in its tracks!
13. When the interview is over get up, organize your belongings and quickly get ready to leave the area with the person escorting you out. Do not stretch their patience as you carefully organize your many belongings if they became disheveled during the interview. Do that later on your own
14. Shake hands and thank the person for their time and ask for what the next steps are and a timeline. Do not get overly obsessive about timelines or accountability about the follow-up. Do this somewhat naturally by practicing it on your own before the interview.
15. On the way out thank the receptionist for taking good care of you and ask the person their name!

Thank-you! Notes

Thank you notes following an interview are critical to making them remember you. They can also be used to recover from something that might have gone wrong during the interview. Mailed Thank You notes are more formal and memorable than emails. You may want to do both for interviews that matter. Thank You! notes are also a good way for you to reposition yourself after the interview. If you saw an opportunity that was not apparent until your exploration during the interview, a thank you note gives you the opportunity to reframe yourself in ways that suits your new perspective about the job.

Acing an interview is a chain of events, each of which makes its own mark on the interviewer. Knowing the subtle nuances that make a difference is a competitive edge to ace an interview and to get that offer you are after.