Lirio, Lance Gerard A.

12STEM4
WIRCACA Activity no. 7

Do’s and Don’t During Interview:

Do’s:

1. Dress appropriately for the industry; err on the side of being conservative to show
you take the interview seriously. Your personal grooming and cleanliness should
be impeccable.
2. Know the exact time and location of your interview; know how long it takes to get
there, park, find a restroom to freshen up, etc.
3. Arrive early; 10 minutes prior to the interview start time [or earlier if the event or
employer instructs you to do so].
4. Treat other people you encounter with courtesy and respect. Their opinions of
you might be solicited during hiring decisions.
5. Offer a firm handshake, make eye contact, and have a friendly expression when
you are greeted by your interviewer.
6. Listen to be sure you understand your interviewer's name and the correct
pronunciation.
7. Even when your interviewer gives you a first and last name, address your
interviewer by title (Ms., Mr., Dr.) and last name, until invited to do otherwise.
8. Maintain good eye contact during the interview.
9. Sit still in your seat; avoid fidgeting and slouching.
10. Respond to questions and back up your statements about yourself with specific
examples whenever possible.
11. Ask for clarification if you don't understand a question.
12. Be thorough in your responses, while being concise in your wording.
13. Be honest and be yourself — your best professional self. Dishonesty gets
discovered and is grounds for withdrawing job offers and for firing. You want a
good match between yourself and your employer. If you get hired by acting like
someone other than yourself, you and your employer will both be unhappy.
14. Treat the interview seriously and as though you are truly interested in the
employer and the opportunity presented.
15. Exhibit a positive attitude. The interviewer is evaluating you as a potential
co-worker. Behave like someone you would want to work with.
Don’t:

1. Don't make excuses. Take responsibility for your decisions and your actions.
2. Don't make negative comments about previous employers or professors (or
others).
3. Don't falsify application materials or answers to interview questions.
4. Don't treat the interview casually, as if you are just shopping around or doing the
interview for practice. This is an insult to the interviewer and to the organization.
5. Don't give the impression that you are only interested in an organization because
of its geographic location.
6. Don't give the impression you are only interested in salary; don't ask about salary
and benefits issues until the subject is brought up by the employer.
7. Don't act as though you would take any job or are desperate for employment.
8. Don't make the interviewer guess what type of work you are interested in; it is not
the interviewer's job to act as a career advisor to you.
9. Don't be unprepared for typical interview questions. You may not be asked all of
them in every interview, but being unprepared will not help you.
10. A job search can be hard work and involve frustrations; don't exhibit frustrations
or a negative attitude in an interview.
11. Don't go to extremes with your posture; don't slouch, and don't sit rigidly on the
edge of your chair.
12. Don't assume that a female interviewer is "Mrs." or "Miss." Address her as "Ms."
unless told otherwise. (If she has a Ph.D. or other doctoral degree or medical
degree, use "Dr. [last name]" just as you would with a male interviewer. Marital
status of anyone, regardless of gender, is irrelevant to the purpose of the
interview.
13. Don't chew gum or smell like smoke.
14. Don't allow your cell phone to sound during the interview. If it does, apologize
quickly and ignore it. Don't take a cell phone call. Don't look at a text message.
15. Don't take your parents, your pet (an assistance animal is not a pet in this
circumstance), spouse, fiance, friends, or anyone to an interview. If you are not
grown up and independent enough to attend an interview alone, you're
insufficiently grown up and independent for a job.

Do’s and Don’t After an Interview

Do’s:

1. Do send a note of some sort.

2. Do send multiple thank you notes if more than one person interviewed you.
 3. Do include your interest in the position and why you’re the best candidate for the
job in your thank you note.
4. Do connect with contacts that interviewed you on LinkedIn, even if the job isn’t
for you, making connections is always a good idea for job-seekers.
5. Do be patient. The hiring process is difficult for hiring managers and can often
take a bit more time than expected.
6. Do continue to follow-up, especially if you have been told you’re still in process. A
recruiter or hiring manager may lose track of who is still in process/interested or
even get sidetracked. It’s important to follow-up and let them know you’re still
interested, just don’t go overboard.
7. Do alert your references, they may be getting a call from the hiring manager and
it is always better if they are prepared.
8. Do turn a negative situation (not getting the job) into a positive (getting a referral).
9. Do be patient. You must work with the company’s timeline.
10. Do continue to follow-up, especially if requested by the interviewer(s).
11. Do alert your references, if you haven’t already, that they may receive a call from
your prospective employer.
12. Do focus on the content of the thank you letters, not so much on whether it’s
hand-written or typed.Do write thank you letters within 24 hours to each person
who interviewed you to continue to show your interest and enthusiasm for the
company and job, without sounding desperate.
13. Do have an action plan in place based on a strong, well-thought-out interview
follow-up strategy. This can give you a huge competitive advantage over others
who interviewed for the job and don’t follow-up.
14. Do capture the highpoints of the interview immediately after. Don’t forget crucial
details.
15. Do ask for business cards from each person you interviewed with.

Don’t:

1. Don’t continue to contact the hiring manager if they have informed you that you
are no longer being considered for the position.
2. Don’t ever have spelling or grammatical errors in any of your follow-up
interactions.
3. Don’t stop job hunting after one interview, you will never be able to predict what
the hiring managers will do, and you don’t want to miss out on any other
opportunities by putting your search on hold.
4. Don’t be overly aggressive. You don’t want to scare off your potential employer,
so make sure you’re tactful and respectful in your approach.
 5. Don’t be afraid to express your interest in the position. If you feel like a particular
position is ideal for you, let it be known and prove to them why you are the best
candidate.
6. Don’t stop your job search – even if you’re confident you’ll get the job.
7. Don’t make assumptions about even simple names; get the spelling if you can’t
get the card.
8. Don’t forget crucial details.
9. Don’t let this be a haphazard activity with no structure; just a letter here, a call
there.
10. Don’t fail to send a thank you, even if the job is not a good fit for you.
11. Don’t send the thank you letter through the incorrect medium, however; make
sure you know the best way to reach those interviewers – regular mail, email,
fax, a phone call., etc.
12. Don’t have any errors in your thank you notes
13. Don’t go overboard
14. Don’t ever burn any of the bridges you build in your job search.
15. Don’t jump the gun

Reflection:

Many people endure worry and tension throughout the interview process for a job
opportunity. Personal experience has shown me that I do not have the best interview
skills - I shake uncontrollably, exhibit high anxiety levels, and find it difficult to think on
the spot. For me, the stressor is not the questions themselves, but rather the knowledge
that the person in front of me has the capacity to affect my future career. Interviews are
all-or-nothing situations in which you either get the job or you don't. I participated in a
mock interview role-play in class this week, which allowed me to review and test my
interview abilities with peers. A successful interviewee does not rely on answer
memorization, but rather on his or her ability to think quickly, convey confidence, and
demonstrate their abilities. Continuous practice, such as mock interview role-playing,
helps an individual develop these skills. Overall, I thought this role-play to be really
valuable due to its capacity to give constructive feedback.