Keep Your Shirt Tucked In!

From the title, you might think this article will be about dress codes and interview apparel.  One might also assume I am giving my opinion on current trends in business casual attire.  Anyone who knows me realizes that fashion statements will never have a home in this blogger's world!

By keeping one's shirt tucked in, I am referring to avoiding comments or statements on interviews which can cost you a job offer.  A hiring manager does not need to know that you are only available to work from 7:30 until 3:30 daily because your girlfriend insists you arrive at home no later than 4:00 PM!  The fact that you went through a divorce and had to leave your job because your father-in-law owned the company is not something to share at a first interview.  Mentioning that you are changing jobs because the police in the town where you most recently were employed do not like you and follow you around is probably not going to give a warm and fuzzy feeling to the recruiter sitting across from you at the interview.

By now, I anticipate that a number of you think I am making this up as entertaining reading  to brighten up a rainy Saturday morning!  I guarantee you that this is not the case.  What you have just read makes up a very small sample of the things I hear from candidates I have sent on interviews over the last 25+ years.  Many of the stories come from the interviewers but a lot of it has been told to me straight from the candidates.  As cable television and the internet have made us less formal than ever before, what people will share about themselves has gotten terribly out of control

I do not care if the interviewer seems very relaxed and casual.  I do not care if the interviewer airs their dirty laundry in front of you.  I do care that the candidate must remain professional at all times.  Sometimes, you are being led into a huge pile of quicksand by a very sneaky interviewer.  Keep your shirt tucked in at all times and you will succeed!