Listed below are the top 10 things of what NOT to do during the interview process or after getting hired. These are real life examples (or as we recruiters call them - horror stories!) from things candidates actually did while recruiters in our office had them in the interview process or did shortly after getting hired with one of our clients. We could not help ourselves from adding a light hearted element of humor to some of the items below! Enjoy!
- Do not, we repeat not, ever ask fellow employees and your manager on the first day of your job if they have ever seen maggots in their water. (We kid you not - this actually happened!)
- Do not ever scream at the top of your lungs while stomping on the ground that there is a spider (or any other creepy crawler) on the ceiling of the room that you are interviewing in. Probably best to avoid mentioning at all!
- If you are hired by a company, it is probably not ever a good idea to show up in former work uniforms bearing a former company's logo. This holds true especially in this case where uniforms or logo shirts were not required by the company the candidate went to work for!
- If you are not selected as the sales candidate of choice and are NOT hired for a position we have you in on...it is never a good idea to in this case go out into the territory and tell the company's customers that you were hired and are their new sales rep - when in fact you were turned down for the position!
- It is never a good idea to break down and start crying mid way through an interview. We don't even suggest allowing yourself to tear up. Kinda makes you look a bit unstable!
- A candidate once asked the company we had him interviewing with for reimbursement for a $120 dinner bill for dinner for him alone the night before his interview. We were told by the company that the receipt included a nice steak, but mostly alcoholic beverages!
- When interviewing, be truthful! If you have a criminal history, or have a spouse who isn't behind relocating across the country, if you don't have a degree, ...don't lie! We could write a book on the many lies we have heard and discovered from candidates!
- It is best to leave all the 4 letter words you know at home the day of the interview. It is never really recommended to swear like a sailor when you are in an interview. We don't even recommend doing it after getting hired...yet it is a sure fire way to get eliminated from consideration if you have major potty mouth!
- Don't ever send your resume to the company that just hired you. It is probably a dead give away to them that you have no intention of staying with them and are only using them until the next better job rolls around. Oops!
- If you do not get selected as the candidate of choice for the position we have you in for...do not freak out, have a temper tantrum and stalk us or the company with several phone calls and emails trying to get us to reconsider the decision. It is best to suck it up and move on...stalking in general is not accepted by anyone these days and your annoying follow ups and desperate pleas for reconsideration will probably just make you look bad....or even worse, have you be referenced on a recruiters top ten no-no's list! : )
