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Epi Wit & Wisdom Letters
“Interviewing
for Success” Fails in Some Areas
Dear Editor,
While your article
“Interviewing for Success” (February 1992) had many helpful
suggestions, particularly the section on preparing questions to ask
about the company, there are several areas I as an employer would not
recommend to job applicants, particularly in a professional field.
To use the same wording as
in the article, you do not “have to make friends with the people you
will be meeting.” There is a difference between “making friends” and
“being perceived as friendly.” Most managers would be completely
turned off by a candidate who asked them questions about their
education, families, interests or hobbies. In addition, in any
government agency or other company that receives government funds, it
is illegal to ask a candidate about topics not directly related to the
job. Questions on those same topics from the candidate would be
considered inappropriate as well as unprofessional.
The person doing the hiring
will have a time table for notifying candidates of a decision. To say
“May I call you Tuesday or would Wednesday be better?” forces the
interviewer to say, “Don’t call me; I’ll call you.” On the other hand,
it is entirely appropriate for a candidate to ask, “When will I be
hearing from you?”
I have directed agencies
with 650 - 1800 employees and a wide variety of professional staff.
When hiring, I look for competence, enthusiasm, background preparation
for the interview (how much research the candidate has done on the
company and the job), appearance, completeness of application material
(it is amazing how many candidates do a sloppy job of presenting
themselves on paper), and ability to think and respond to a selection
of job-related questions. I do not look for candidates who try to make
friends with me and do not appreciate “aggressive” candidates.
I believe you could have
served your readers better with a more standard article on
interviewing techniques.
Suzanne Dandoy,
MD, MPH
Published March 1992
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