Web produced by: Kerry DukeBy Marvin Walberg
Scripps Howard News Service
It's been said that you learn better when you're having fun, so let's learn how to get hired at someone else's expense.
It's time for CareerBuilder.com's annual survey of the most outrageous interview mistakes that candidates have made, based on 3,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals nationwide. CareerBuilder is the nation's largest online job site with more than 23 million unique visitors and over 1.6 million jobs.
The Top Ten list includes:
-- Candidate answered cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave her own office because it was a "private" conversation.
...The drum roll begins....
-- Candidate told the interviewer he wouldn't be able to stay with the job long because he thought he might get an inheritance if his uncle dies and his uncle wasn't "looking too good."
-- Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
-- Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
...Do you hear a symbol crash?
-- Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was "classified."
-- Candidate told the interviewer he was fired for beating up his last boss.
...You can't make this stuff up!
-- When applicant was offered food before the interview, he declined saying he didn't want to line his stomach with grease before going out drinking.
-- A candidate for an accounting position said she was a "people person" not a "numbers person."
-- Candidate flushed the toilet while talking to interviewer during a phone interview.
...Okay....
-- Candidate took out a hairbrush and brushed her hair, during the interview.
In addition to the most unusual blunders, employers were asked about the most common mistakes candidates have made during interviews. More than half of hiring managers cited dressing inappropriately as the most detrimental mistake. Speaking negatively about a current or previous employer came in second and appearing disinterested ranked third. Acting arrogant and not providing specific answers to questions were also cited, as well as not asking good questions.
Thanks to CareerBuilder for helping us laugh while we learn to get hired. For more information about CareerBuilder, visit http://www.careerbuilder.com.
Marvin Walberg is a job search coach. Contact him at mwalberg@bellsouth.net, marvinwalberg.blogspot.com, or P.O. Box 43056, Birmingham, AL 35243.
