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27 surprising things that affect whether you get hired after a job interview
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There are many seemingly small details in a job
interview that can affect your chances of landing the
position.
Some are within your control, like whether you smile
too much.
Others are out of your control, like the weather on the
day of the interview.
First there's the obvious stuff: Have you done your research on
the company? Are you polite to the interviewer and eager to join
the staff?
But there's also the less obvious stuff: How do you treat the
receptionist? Are you smiling too much?
Here is a list of seemingly trivial details that can affect your
chances of landing the gig - and only some are within your
control.
Jacquelyn Smith and Vivian Giang contributed to a previous
version of this article.
1. The time of your interview
Tuesday at 10:30 am is the best
time for you to schedule an interview, Glassdoor reports.
Although their recommendations aren't backed by science, they
follow common sense. People are shown to be most productive on
Tuesdays and won't feel rushed by the time they meet you. It's
also late enough in the day that your interviewer has had time to
check their email, have a cup of coffee, and get ready for your
arrival.
You also don't want to be someone's last meeting of the workday,
according to a study in
Psychology Today. There's a good chance the interviewer's
attention might not solely be on you. They could be thinking about priorities
that they have after work, for example, such as dinner plans,
kids' homework, etc.
Also, avoid interviewing pre-
or post-lunch because your time with them could either be cut
short or you could be left waiting for a while.
2. The weather on the day of your interview
University of Toronto researchers Donald Redelmeier and Simon D.
Baxter found that medical school applicants fared worse if they
interviewed on a rainy day compared to sunny-day interviewees.
They
say: "Overall, those interviewed on rainy days received about
a 1% lower score than those interviewed on sunny days. This
pattern was consistent for both senior interviewers and junior
interviewers. We next used logistic regression to analyze
subsequent admission decisions. The difference in scores was
equivalent to about a 10% lower total mark on the Medical College
Admission Test."
The data included nearly 3,000 applicants over a six-year period.
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3. How early you arrive
You may think it'll look good if you arrive early - but if you're
excessively early, you could be hurting your chances.
"Of course arriving a few minutes early is a good idea, and is
certainly better than arriving late - but don't show up a half
hour before your interview," says Lynn Taylor, a national
workplace expert and the author of " Tame
Your Terrible Office Tyrant: How to Manage Childish Boss Behavior
and Thrive in Your Job." "It can make you appear
too anxious or put pressure on the interviewer. If you have extra
time, gather your thoughts in your car or take a brief walk to
get your energy up."
4. Whether your rival also interviews on the same day
Yes, it may be difficult to know when your rival is interviewing,
but if you happen to know, schedule your interview on a different
day. Research suggests that whether or not you're considered
qualified for a position depends on who else is applying for the
job.
"People are averse to judging too many applicants high or low on
a single day, which creates a bias against people who happen to
show up on days with especially strong applicants," according to
a study
in the journal Psychological Science, which focuses on
business school applicants only.
However, this comparison only lasts for one day, which means that
you are only compared to people who are interviewing on the same
day as you - not the day before or after.
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5. What you do while waiting in the lobby
"Drinking coffee, eating, or talking on your cell is not the
first impression you want to make with the hiring manager - or
the receptionist," says Taylor. "You don't know exactly when the
interviewer will show up, so be at the ready."
She suggests keeping one hand free so that you can quickly shake
hands without awkwardly placing all your personal items on a
chair or on the floor. "You want to appear organized and
attentive."
"Also, as you wait, either make conversation with the
receptionist (if he or she is available to talk), review notes
from your notebook, or review any company materials for guests.
Maintain a pleasant smile and upbeat demeanor."
6. How you treat the receptionist or the driver
Employers want to know how you interact with others regularly, so
a common tactic is to ask the receptionist about you later.
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh said in an
interview with The Wall Street Journal that he will ask the
shuttle driver who picks up candidates whether they were impolite
or rude.
"A lot of our job candidates are from out of town, and we'll pick
them up from the airport in a Zappos shuttle, give them a tour,
and then they'll spend the rest of the day interviewing,"
Hsieh says. "At the end of the day of interviews, the
recruiter will circle back to the shuttle driver and ask how he
or she was treated. It doesn't matter how well the day of
interviews went, if our shuttle driver wasn't treated well, then
we won't hire that person."
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7. Your handshake says a lot about you
As in any business or networking situation, a weak, tentative
handshake conveys a lack of confidence, Taylor says. "And this
gesture is a key part of your first impression."
Make sure you convey your self-assurance with a firm handshake
and a smile on your face - and don't be afraid to take the
initiative in reaching out. "Some people go overboard, however.
You don't need to cause injury to make your point."
8. If you accept the offered coffee
If the interviewer offers you something to drink besides water -
especially coffee - don't accept it.
This is especially true if they have a busy day ahead, since
they're now spending even more time than they originally planned
just to make you coffee.
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Since narcissists typically think they're fantastic, the
interviewer may think so, too.
10. The color of your clothing
According to 2,099 hiring managers and human resource
professionals who participated in a CareerBuilder
survey, blue and black are the best colors to wear to a job
interview, and orange is the worst.
Conservative colors, such as black, blue, gray, and brown, seem
to be the safest bet when meeting someone for the first time in a
professional setting, whereas colors that signal more creativity,
like orange, may be too loud for an interview.
Red is the most powerful color, but consider whether you want to
outshine your interviewer. This, of course, depends on what role
you're interviewing for and the culture of the company.
Unlike most men, women tend to wear more colorful clothing,
making our judgments both of color and interview candidates
gender-biased.
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11. Whether you glance at your watch or cell phone
As benign as this might seem, people notice when you're peeking
at your watch or phone, and you certainly don't want to convey
that you're not engaged in the conversation, Taylor explains.
"Even having your cell phone in plain sight is disrespectful.
You're not going to text or take calls, so turn it off and put it
away. Make sure your hiring manager has your undivided
attention."
12. Sitting before you're asked to
Show respect for your interviewer's space by waiting for them to
offer you a seat, or wait for them to sit first.
After you sit, Molidor and Parus say to "sit tall with squared up
shoulders and try to occupy as much space in the chair as
possible. Don't be like a shrinking violet with a bowed head, no
eye contact, and slouching shoulders."
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13. Tailoring your answers based on the interviewer's age
Different generations are most impressed by different values. By
being aware of your interviewer's age, you can
tailor your answers to what you think they're looking for,
advise Molidor and Parus.
"With a little practice, you can home in on the values that each
generation holds most dear. You can shape your answer using the
language of their values," they write.
According to the authors, these tactics don't always work, as
every interviewer can have a different set of values, so it's
important to
come prepared for the position you're interviewing for,
regardless of the interviewer.
14. The way you make eye contact in a panel interview
Keep everyone's attention in a panel interview by making eye
contact with different people at specific times during your
response, say Molidor and Parus.
"In a panel interview, always begin your response by making eye
contact with the person who asked you the question. Then make
random and soft eye contact with each of the other interviewers.
As you finish up your response, return your eye contact to the
person who asked you the question. Do not mow down the
interviewers by going down the line making eye contact after the
other. Soft random eye contact does the trick."
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15. Your posture
"When you're in the interview, your default should be sitting
straight and keeping a pleasant smile on your face," Taylor says.
Avoid slumping in your chair and remember to lean forward,
showing interest in the interviewer. "Even if you feel the
discussion is going south, maintain your poise, posture and
inflection. That can sometimes help you turn things around."
16. What you do with your hands
Molidor and Parus write:
1. Showing your palms indicates sincerity.
2. Holding your palms downward is a sign of dominance. Do not
shake hands with your palms down.
3. Pressing the fingertips of your hands together to form a
church steeple is a display of confidence.
4. Concealing your hands, as in putting them in your pockets,
is a sign that you have something to hide.
5. Finger tapping is a sign of impatience.
6. Folding your arms across your chest is a very defensive
position, indicating disappointment or disagreement.
7. Overusing hand gestures to the point of distraction.
However, the science of body language can be rather subjective.
The interviewer may not notice these small signs, even
subconsciously, especially if they're focused on the words you're
saying rather than your gestures.
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It's clearly unfair (and out of your control), but your
interviewer may not even be consciously aware that she's biased
toward Californians. It's called the similarity-attraction
hypothesis: People simply gravitate toward those who are
similar to them in some capacity.
There are a few potential explanations for this phenomenon.
One is that people with a decent level of self-esteem are
satisfied with their personalities, so when they see their
qualities reflected in someone else, they like that person,
too.
Another idea is that humans have evolved to like people who
look and act the way they do. At one point in human history, the
safest bet was to only trust people in your small social
group.
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19. How competent you seem
Coming across as super-competent can in some cases hurt your success in an interview,
because your interviewer might worry that you'll outperform
them. And that's especially true in organizations with highly
competitive cultures.
However, some interviewers are gender-biased. In a study of
applicants for science-related jobs, interviewers were more
likely to hire a male candidate to perform a mathematical task,
even if the female candidate was proven to perform equally
well.
Of course, you should still put your best foot forward in
any job interview. If the company doesn't hire you because they
feel threatened or they're biased, you might not want to work
there anyway.
20. The sound of your voice
In the near future, some companies may begin analyzing
candidates' voices to determine if they'd be good fits, according
to an
NPR report.
Essentially, an algorithm would determine whether your
voice is engaging, calming, or trustworthy - which could be
especially important in industries like hospitality and
retail.
Humans would have the final say on hiring.
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21. Whether you’re smiling
It's common sense that flashing a smile makes you look
friendlier and more approachable.
But research suggests that, for certain professions,
smiling too much can undermine your success in a job
interview.
In one study, published in the Journal of Social Psychology,
researchers asked college students to role-play job interviews.
They found that students who played candidates for the position
of newspaper reporter, manager, and research assistant were less
likely to get the hypothetical job when they smiled - especially
during the middle of the interviews.
22. Your accent
Research published in the Journal of Applied Psychology
suggests that some employers may discriminate against
candidates for executive positions when the candidates have
foreign accents. Specifically, the employers may believe that
those candidates have less political skill.
This is another example of completely unfair
discrimination, and the researchers behind the study say
companies should add accent-bias-awareness training to existing
training programs for hiring managers.
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23. Your weight
Recent experiments suggest that we're less inclined to hire
job candidates when they're overweight.
In the study, published in the journal Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, men and women
rated digital résumés that included photographs of non-obese
people and digitally altered photographs of those same people as
obese. As it turns out, obese candidates were rated significantly
less competent than non-obese candidates.
Right now, Michigan is the only state that has a
law against weight discrimination - there's no protection
under federal
law. But if you feel that weight discrimination has affected
your chances of landing a job, you can get in touch with the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the American Civil
Liberties Union.
24. Whether you have tattoos or piercings
A Salary.com
survey found that some 76% of people say tattoos and
piercings hurt a job candidate's chances of getting hired.
However, your body art might stand out more in certain
fields - for example, the survey found that just 8% of government
workers have tattoos, compared to 20% of those in the
hospitality, tourism, and recreation industries.
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25. Your body language
Experts say that when people like each other they mirror each
other's body posture and movements. In a way, it looks like like
the two people are "dancing."
If you don't mirror your interviewer's body
language, it might seem like you're not interested in what
they're saying or even that you're lying.
Obviously, you don't need to go to extremes here - like
scratching your nose every time your interviewer does. But if
they're leaning forward in their chair or sitting with their legs
crossed, you can subtly mimic these behaviors.
26. How sweaty you are
Offering a clammy palm to shake the hiring manager's hand
is the greatest fear of many a job candidate.
One public relations recruiter
tells US News that she recommends asking for a cold cup of
water while you're waiting to be called in for your interview.
That way, you'll lower your body temperature and stop some of the
sweating.
On the other hand, you can just accept that sweating and
nervousness are normal
in a stressful situation and hope your interviewer feels the
same way.
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27. When you send your thank-you note
We all know how important it is to follow up after a job
interview with a thank-you note - but not everyone realizes that
when they send it can be just as important.
If you wait too long, the hiring manager may forget about you or
assume you're not interested in the job. It may also make you
seem like a slacker.
"The best timeframe to send a thank you email is within 24
hours after your interview," Whitney Purcell, formerly the
associate director of Career
Development at Susquehanna University, told Business Insider.
"It should be sent during business hours - no
3 am
emails that make your schedule seem a little out of whack with
the company's traditional hours."
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