Employers’ 10 Pet Peeves of Job Candidates

If you are involved in recruitment, I am sure you have seen it all – from candidates who have fallen asleep or who have answered cell phone calls in an interview to candidates who have asked if having a DUI would get in the way of being hired for the position!

The following job candidate pet peeves have actually happened and are from my network of professionals:

1. Being unprepared: knowing nothing about the company for which he or she is interviewing and being unsure of the requirements for the job
2. Ringing cell phone during the interview: and the candidate ANSWERS it!
3. Taking and RETURNING text messages during the interview: this really happened by a finalist sent into an interview by a retained search firm
4. Arriving late: there is no excuse for arriving late to an interview, and this warrants no follow-up phone call from the employer
5. Allowing typos on resume and correspondence to the employer: errors on resumes and cover letters, especially in phone numbers or email addresses, are just not acceptable
6. Offering an unprofessional email address: never give an unprofessional email address like PartyAnimal@email.com
7. Putting forth a limp handshake: this always leaves a bad first impression
8. Showing poor body language: never give the appearance of being too laid back or, worse, lazy
9. Coming off as arrogant or as having a superiority complex: be grateful for the time the employer is giving you and be sure to thank them for it in a follow-up thank you note
10. Bad mouthing previous employer(s): never trash-talk your former employer in an interview with a potential employer

Presumably, these candidates did not have the advantage of professional career transition services, or if they did, they slept through the interviewing portion of the program!

If you are reducing your workforce, give your ‘soon-to-be-former employees’ a break and provide professional career coaching services so they can compete in the job market. The market is improving, but making careless mistakes like these will obviously generate a long, long job search in any labor market.

I am sure you can add to the list of job candidate pet peeves above – and please do! Add your pet peeves in the comments section below or send me an email.