How to Make a Recruiter Hate You

Most job interviews aren't anything special. They're standard, basic exchanges. A recruiter or interviewer asks a few questions, and the interviewee provides their answers. It's a simple process. However, there are always those that complicate matters. Instead of being a shining example of a great candidate, these people effortlessly ruin any chance that they ever had of getting the job. And unfortunately, it's quite easy to fall into the category of an unworthy employee. By simply remembering that respect and respectability are the cornerstones of a successful interview, anyone can avoid earning a recruiter's hatred.

Getting Too Friendly

One of the worst mistakes an eager candidate can make is to invade a recruiter's personal space. Most people do not liberally invite everyone that they meet into their personal lives, and neglecting this fact will quickly eliminate a candidate from the pool of potential employees.

Asking a recruiter personal questions should only be done under certainty of mutual respect. Without developing or earning the respect of a recruiter, personal questions are a gamble and a distraction: they may upset the recruiter or remove their focus from more important communication. To be perfectly clear, a friendly attitude is typically excellent, but there is a fine line between relating and prying.

Being Too Casual

An interview is business. Time and money are being used in the process, and the business doing the recruiting has an objective to fulfill. By disregarding this part of the interview process, many will fall into the trap of losing their professional credibility. Those that value time, maintain professionalism and still communicate with personality have a far greater chance of being selected than those enter the interview without a respect for the business world.

Losing Composure

Not everything in business is easy. When situations reach critical difficulty, companies want employees that can persist through hardship without losing their composure. Becoming angry, sad, resentful, obnoxious or negative in any other way can instantly turn an interview sour. They demonstrate to the recruiter that the candidate cannot even maintain composure in a simple interview. And if the candidate can't do that, it only logically follows that they would lose their composure when the stakes are raised. That impression alone is enough for a recruiter to immediately disregard the candidate.

Capability is what makes a candidate worthy. An interview is merely a way for a business to gauge the immediate potential of a person as it relates to the job, so any actions that detract, distract or complicate the process is to be avoided at all costs. Otherwise, the recruiter might just hate the candidate.

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