What is Interview Etiquette?
Etiquette means the good behaviors which help to transform a human being into a gentle human being. An individual must behave properly in public to gain appreciation and recognition from others. It is essential to behave in a socially acceptable way.
Interview is nothing but a formal interaction between the interviewer or employer and the potential candidate where the interviewer tries to judge the individual on the basis of different parameters for a particular employment in the company.
A potential candidate should perform well in his or her interviews to get the dream job. Interview etiquette is defined as the code of conduct or a specific set of rules and guidelines a candidate is expected to follow while appearing for the respective interview.
Why Do You need To Follow Interview Etiquette?
While going for an interview in any particular company or organization, the etiquette representation plays a vital role in presenting yourself to the interviewer, and many times it happens that the interviewer judges you on the basis of your interview etiquette. During an interview process for any kind of job, interview etiquette plays a vital role, as it provides the recruiters to have a short look at the candidate’s personality as ‘first impression is the last impression’.
8 Perfect Interview Etiquette
Given below are the perfect interview etiquette that are needed to be followed.
Always be on time
Even though this seems quite obvious, but you’d be surprised or rather shocked to learn that there are many candidates who still now turn up late for their job interviews. Give yourself atleast an hour before the scheduled interview time in order to sit back, relax and mentally prepare yourself to face the interview.
If you are, for any unavoidable circumstances, running late on time, it is extremely vital for you to be both apologetic and courageous to your interviewer.
Things like looking attractive, flustered and confused are not going to help you in enhancing your professional image in the eyes of the interviewer. Even your online zoom interview etiquette should comply to this.
Do not be too early for interview
Another disliking incident of many interviewers is extreme earliness. Always remember that there can be chances that your interviewer may have some other tasks to finish off and even need some time to prepare themselves before your interview.
If you are seen waiting for the interview, it could give them a feeling of pressure from within, they might rush and even get slightly irritated (they may feel a sense of guilt for making you wait).
Arriving 10 to 15 minutes ahead of an interview is just about perfect.
Don’t forget to turn off your Cell Phone
The most important fundamental aspect of job interview etiquette is that you should never ever forget to switch off your cell phone. Even if your phone is in silent mode or vibration mode and the interviewer sees your phone ringing, it will create a negative impact on them. Moreover, you will also feel uncomfortable in a phone call coming in the middle of your interview.
Nevertheless, accidents do happen with anyone and by chance, if your phone starts ringing in the middle of your interview, don’t ignore it and just apologize to your interviewer for the inconvenience call and immediately turn it off.
Have a proper Body Language
This is one of the most important offline as well as online skype job interview etiquette. Bad body language may cause you loose your dream job.
It is really impossible to know about a person in 5 to 10 minutes of interview. So the interviewer will seldom know you by that time. All the will check in the entire interview process is your body language and that will only create a lasting impression in their minds, whether good or bad.
Your body language might not comply with some of your feelings or nature as an individual in the interview, but if you can take control of your body language, it would be beneficial towards cracking the interview.
Practice to Handshake
In the corporate culture, handshaking is an important method of communication. You need to be prepared for handshaking with your interviewer and should not shy away whenever you are asked to handshake. Otherwise, your interviewer will have a negative impact on you on their minds.
Don’t over-share your thoughts
Needless to say, but hope you know that there is a thin line between bonding with your interviewer and over-sharing your feelings. Obviously you should be vocal and expressive throughout your entire interview process so as to let your interviewer analyse how well will you fit in their team. But always try to share stiffs that are relevant for this job and don’t share too much of unnecessary or irrelevant stuff.
Hiring managers want professional workers who are friendly, will fit in and will not rock the boat. On the contrary, they certainly will not want drama queens and drama kings who could become unreliable in near future.
Prepare yourself well before the Interview
This is also a very important offline as well as online skype job interview etiquette that you will need to follow. Always try to be well prepared before the interview. Practice the answers of the obvious question like “introduce you”, “where do you like to see yourself in next 5 years” etc. ready beforehand. By this you will be able to avoid fumbling during the interview process.
Always try to show Gratitude
This is a vital interview etiquette that should be done at the end of the interview process. At the end of the interview, do not forget to thank your interviewer for spending their precious time in taking your interview and make a handshake with them.
Hope by now, you have learnt the top 9 interview etiquettes. Hope this helps you in maintaining your future phone interview etiquette or college interview etiquette. Last, but not least- Be Confident, Be You and always remember one thing “yes I can.”
FAQ
What will I do if I don’t know the answer of a particular question asked by the interviewer?
You are a human being after all and it is impossible for you to know anything and everything. Not knowing a particular answer isn’t a bad thing but not knowing yet answering something wrong or fumbling is bad and can affect your interview in a negative way. If you don’t know an answer, simply say that you have no knowledge regarding that part and you will surely check that out after the interview. This attitude of yours is also an important job interview or phone interview etiquette or college interview etiquette.
