No matter where you go or what you do, good manners are important. As you were growing up, your Mum likely instilled in you a set of manners and rules for proper behaviour. In learning etiquette, you developed a way to act and behave in the public eye.
The manners she taught you aren’t just for social situations and niceties when encountering someone new; the manners Mum taught you may just help you land the job you’ve been searching for.
Please and Thank You
Remember when Mum made you ask politely for something you wanted? Holidays and birthdays were no exception either. After receiving your presents and publicly thanking everyone for attending and sharing the day with you, it may have been considered proper manners to hand write thank you notes to everyone who attended, whether they brought you a gift or not.
Think of the post interview as the after party part of your birthday. Even in today’s fast paced societies, it is still considered good form to send a thank you note, email or a phone call after an interview. Erin Carrasco, an HR professional and Operations Manager for a Staffing Company, states that, “people are not persistent enough,” which means that taking those extra few moments to thank your interviewers for their time could result in a second look at your experience and credentials and in some cases, a job offering.
The Forgetful Job Hunter
Most likely when you’re searching for a job, you aren’t sending out one résumé or CV. Your printer has probably worked overtime churning out dozens of copies to be mailed out. Therefore, when the calls for interviews come rolling in, it’s wise, so says Carrasco, to know what job you’ve applied for. She suggests printing off the job description that you applied for so that when the company’s hiring personnel come calling, you’re not scrambling to remember what job you wanted to be hired for. Not only will you save face when setting up your interview by not having to ask what the job was for but you can also read through the description again in preparation for the interview.
Give Good Phone
In our attempt to stay connected to everything and everyone at once, we can often forget that phone etiquette needs to carry over to job hunting and even the use of mobile phones. For instance, when in an interview, it’s proper to give your full attention to the meeting at hand. Mobile phones should be turned off or at least have the ringer muted so that you aren’t interrupted.
When on a phone interview, be in a quiet room if at all possible. Eliminate outside noises such as kids, pets, music or television. Ignore any call waiting signals on your phone as well. You can always call the waiting caller back but you may not get another chance at the conversation you’re having now. It’s important to refrain from distractions as much as possible. Even if you feel you are totally engaged in the conversation, the person on the other end may pick up on subtle hints and feel that your inattention is a sign you don’t care if you get the job or not.
The Case against Too Much Information
It doesn’t matter if a potential employer tells you to ‘tell me about yourself’. This is not the time to let them know that you’ve undergone a tummy tuck, left your husband for the pool boy or that you are a night owl who uses the wee hours of the night to update your Facebook account. What he or she really wants to know is, tell me how well you can do this job. Now is the time to sing your professional praises. Sprinkle in personal anecdotes such as being an avid reader, but only if you are one!
Listen Closely
Part of your Mum’s manner lessons included practising good listening skills and not interrupting. If you spend your entire interview talking about yourself, your employer may get a good feel for your skills but they won’t be able to see how well you do at listening. Hold back from butting in when they are explaining a function of the job you’re seeking; even if you want to share how you single-handedly secured a new client. Pay close attention to what they tell you as there may be something in what they say that wasn’t mentioned in any preliminary phone calls or the initial job ad. Now is the time to listen and make mental notes, or even write down what you want to ask once your interviewer is finished. Remember there is a time for questions and answers, but never a good time to be rude and interrupt.
How you conduct yourself and treat the people you meet with will go a long way towards being hired. Even if you don’t get the job you applied and interviewed for, you can walk away from the meeting knowing that it wasn’t your manners that kept you from being hired.
Recommended Reading
For more information and advice on good manners, take a look at the book, ’Be Charming - Modern Manners: A Teach Yourself Guide
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