interview etiquette

Timing Your Arrival
You must arrive in time for your interview, arriving late means you start at a disadvantage to your competitors and it may even mean that you will not be considered. At the very least it constitutes poor interview etiquette.
You should calculate your journey time and allow a margin for delays and other eventualities. Check all the available travel information before leaving and amend your journey plans if necessary. Always carry a mobile phone so that you can summon taxis or other assistance whilst travelling. With this careful planning you should arrive early for your interview - ideally about 20 minutes. Where you should then wait will depend on how early you are. Anything over 20 minutes early and it is advisable to wait in a nearby café, coffee shop or other public building. This has the advantage of helping to relax you and not risking the impression that you are a desperate candidate.

Appear Busy from the Moment You Arrive
You are on show from the moment you arrive at the place of interview, so act accordingly. Is there any pertinent information that you could scan? Perhaps a notice board or glossy brochures from head office. Be busy and be seen to be busy, nobody will pay you to sit around dreaming! Remember, it is not only the interviewer that is assessing you but any number of staff may be subsequently asked their opinion of the candidates. Take the opportunity to ask the receptionist to look after any excess belongings, as you do not want to walk into the interview room loaded with clutter. Try to arrive at interview with just a single briefcase, document wallet or bag. Finally, by arriving early you will have the opportunity to benefit from a slightly longer interview, if the previous candidate failed to turn up.

First Impressions Count
You must do everything you can to make a positive first impression when you meet the interviewer. Above all make sure you remember the names of all of your interviewers, this means paying particular attention to them when you are first introduced, and taking a mental note of their various roles. There is a common misconception that type of handshake and personality are in some way connected. In the interview context there is very little information to go on and so, like many other things, the handshake takes on undue significance. The best advice is to use a firm (but not hand-crushing) handshake, remembering to make eye contact and smile at the same time. Some people suffer from the dead fish handshake, one that is weak and clammy. If so, it is worth practicing your handshake until you feel more comfortable with it. If you do suffer from sweaty palms, sometimes associated with interview nerves; then discretely wipe your palm just before shaking the interviewer’s hand. It is important that you are not seen to do this, as it is a very subordinate sign, showing you feel unworthy of the meeting. Never wipe your hand just after the handshake, as this implies that you felt dirty after touching the other person.

Making Positive Small Talk
You will need to respond to conversational gambits, like the common question about how was your journey. Respond by making conversation but don’t overdo it and avoid stressing any negatives, even if you had a terrible journey, as this is not a good way to start. People generally like others who are capable of initiating conversation, so don’t be afraid of asking your own polite questions during this meet and greet phase. It is a good idea to have a few conversation openers memorized, such as commenting favourably on the premises, to help break the silence. Remember, people like people who are similar to themselves. Interviewers like confidence, but not too much, or it can be perceived as arrogance.

Judging the Degree of Formality
You have now met the interviewer, and like it or not, your own first impressions are already forming. You are starting to judge their interview style but another powerful clue to this can come from the layout of the interview room itself.

There are three basic layouts used by experienced interviewers:
1. Across the table- This is the classic negotiation style, eye to eye.
2. Across the corner of the table - This is a more informal, conversational colleague style layout.
3. Across open space - The classic friend-to-friend style of open discussion.

These three options range from formal to informal and is often a big cue as to the interview style: structure, semi-structured or unstructured. The more informal the setting the more the experienced interviewer can gain. Where the interview is held across open space the interviewer can read far more from your body language than they can when a desk is between you. The more informal the setting the more attention you should pay to your non verbal communication, whilst at the same time adopting a slightly more relaxed and informal style in the way you answer questions, although your key messages should be the same.

Let the Interviewer Take the Lead
It is good practice not to sit down before being invited to. This is not only polite but also gives a nervous interviewer confidence by letting them direct the proceedings. Ideally you should sit at a slight angle to the interviewer, as this is more relaxed than the eye-to-eye head on position. To show how bright and alert you are lean slightly forwards in your chair. This is dealt with in more detail in the next section.

The accepting of refreshments can be a tricky area. The best advice is to be comfortable; to help you feel relaxed. So, if you are thirsty accept a drink but if you are very nervous bear in mind that any shakiness of the hand will be magnified when holding a drink. However, when it comes to food the golden rule is don’t. You are at the interview to communicate a strong case for hiring your services. Communicating effectively whilst eating is very difficult and can only detract from the impression you wish to create. This graph is the profile of what the interviewer recalls against time, as the interview progresses:

However the profile of a typical interviewee’s performance looks like this: Surprising isn’t it? Just when you are warmed up and on a roll the interviewer isn’t really that receptive. This is why it is so important to make a good first impression. Once this has formed in the interviewers mind it acts like a filter and any information that supports it gets through whilst anything that contradicts it tends to be rejected, or diluted. Take full advantage of the Primacy (first impression) and Recency (last impression) affect and make sure that you start and finish your interview strongly. Communicating your career statement early on can be a very useful tactic.

Always Strive to Perform Well
The first impressions reaction cuts both ways and you will also be meeting the interviewer for the first time. Whatever your true feelings, make sure that you react positively to them, smile warmly and ensure you maintain positive body language. Even if you think you have just met the interviewer from hell you must continue with your main objective; to win at every interview.

Avoiding Bad News
The interview is in full swing and your job is to make as strong a case as you can for them offering you the position. In effect you are there to sell - yourself!
One of the keys to this is to ensure that you always remain positive. Good news tends to be accepted at face value, whereas bad news tends to make people sit up and pay attention. If you get the interviewers attention in this way, they are likely to pursue this new line of enquiry aggressively. This would mean dwelling on bad news and facing awkward questions about something you really should not have brought up in the first place.

If you have some career skeletons in your closet, decide ahead of the interview how you can avoid giving too much information about these areas. Is it possible to avoid talking about these issues at the interview? You almost certainly won’t have published negative information in your CV. Alternatively, can you put a more positive interpretation on events, stressing the lessons you learned and how you have put these to practical effect since?