Good Intentions Gone Awry

A good friend recently sent me one of the latest "10 Things Not to Do in a Job Interview" articles that's been floating around the Internet.  Coming to us courtesy of the good folks at AOL, the article offers the usual insightful gems about "not being late" and "not pestering the interviewer after the interview."

As I read the listing, I could not help but think of all the things companies have done during my search to turn others as well as myself off as candidates - you can read some of those lovely experiences here, here, and here for starters - and yet the question still remains, Why isn't anyone writing about these errors instead of the ones supposedly made by candidates?

I mean, let's face it, anyone who actually has to be reminded not to be late for a job interview is probably going to be unemployed for a whole host of reasons.  Yet I can honestly recall any number of instances where I've shown up for interviews that resulted in my being given the pleasure of sitting in the lobby for as long as half an hour before the interviewer finds himself/herself ready to discuss the position.  (This assumes, of course, that there is even an opportunity in existence since most firms make it a policy these days to simply interview continuously so they can have a steady supply of applicants in the event they ever do develop an opening vs. interviewing when one actually pops up.)

But what's worse, many of the most prominent consulting firms make such a haphazard (if not frantic) effort at their hiring, that they often display the very sort of ignorance that would get a candidates laughed out of the office if they displayed it themselves.  For instance, when I recently interviewed at one prominent consulting firm, I could not be told which position I would be interviewing for (which obviously made preparation all but impossible), nor could I be told the names of the people who would be interviewing me because the firm itself did not know and would not know until the day of the interview.  Whoever was available that day - and they were still running around the interview rooms putting up sign-up sheets the morning of my interview - would be my interview panel.

Want to guess how much time these folks spent reviewing my resume and learning anything about my background and experience before our talk?

Now, turn this scenario around.  If I went into an interview without learning about the company or without learning the names and backgrounds of the people I would be talking with, I would fail Job Interview Preparation 101.  Yet this prominent firm obviously thought that this race-through method was the best way to evaluate talent for its needs.

I could go on - I've had interviewers who checked their instant-messages during our conversations or who forget to turn their own cell phones off before we started our discussion - but the point's pretty clear:  It would be nice if someone could do an Interview 101 for the interviewers who make applicants' lives miserable by so often displaying the kind of behavior that the interviewee has painstakingly learned and been instructed not to exhibit.  A little common courtesy could go a very long way.