Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Job Applicant Etiquette

I'm sort of a civility nut so I agree with most of this CareerJournal article on the importance of etiquette during job interviews, but two questions popped up:

  1. The applicant who was kept waiting was wrong to have stormed out, but can it also be conceded that the boss was wrong to have kept the applicant waiting? The session with the rest of the staff may have been perceived as a put-down. A simple heads-up/apology may have kept the applicant there.
  2. The idea of having the applicant drive to lunch so the person's driving habits can be observed strikes me as bizarre. On one hand, the article is arguing that the applicant should act like a guest and then the guest is being required to drive the interviewer to lunch! That's a nice way to add unnecessary stress.

Job applicants should mind their manners. That's a given. But so too should the power-holders. I see a great deal of inadvertent rudeness in the workplace and it's not by the job applicants.

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