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RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Jer-285830 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 22:18:00 GMT

I wouldn't curse in an interview

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Miles Neale — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 15:48:00 GMT

Last year when this came out I commented about what I took away from the discussion and the article. I have not interviewed since then and I do not know if I would take any or all of the advice given. Except for one thing

If you want to be a success in the interview tell the truth, the truth about you, your work, your work habits, and your expectations. Lay it all out there.

DO NOT HIDE WHO YOU ARE!

If you really tell it like it is and are hired you will be convinced that they want the real you. If you cuss then cuss, if you God Bless then God Bless. We do not need sailors who hate faith-based people and organizations working with priests not missionaries who are attempting to convert everyone working with those who would rather kill then be converted.

BE THE REAL YOU!

You do not want a job where they do not want you nor what you have, and the person who is interviewing does not want to waste the companies time on someone who might last a week or three.

GET THERE, GET REAL, AND GET THE JOB FOR YOU NOT THE JOB FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

Good article or not it makes you think and that my friends is valuable, very valuable.

Enough said. Later...

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Brad Burke — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 12:58:00 GMT

What an entertaining article! Your ideas on what to do and not do sound like some questions I have had in interviews. They are so absurd and strange, they can have no other purpose than to test how we will respond to them.

As I read this, I want you to know that I did not react; I just sat there quietly and continued to look you in the eyes and afirm you as you were saying these things and not let on that I really wanted to run out of the room and find a job anywhere else.

Or, were you serious?

If the interviewer makes some sexual comment to me then I should do the same so I will fit in with the team? Please.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

sqldba-294117 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:11:00 GMT

This article doesn't make any sense. professionalism still exists & still company out there is looking for experienced & professional IT canidate. people likes sober & mannered person in there organization who he/she talks with respect & humble tone. if the person is decipline, mannered & good by heart he/she can win the world.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Kathi Kellenberger — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 10:41:00 GMT

Steve,

I can't believe you featured this article again, what were you thinking?

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Mike Graham — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:49:00 GMT

If you want to impress at an interview, be professional, likeable, and competent. And most of all, rely on your experience and not the juvenile advice given by the author of this article.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Kevin-214685 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 09:04:00 GMT

Thanks for the waste of time - If you want serious tips on interviewing, visit MSN homepage instead.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Jeffrey Roy — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:47:00 GMT

"...like I'd just found him in my living room floor in his undies with my dog and a jar of peanut butter."Just what response is the author expecting here. This "humor" was not used as an example; these are the author's own words. I was floored this went unnoticed the first time when I commented.I agree the appropriate use of humor can lend readability to a piece, but this is so far from professional I'm amazed it was "reprinted". I read many publications and have NEVER read anything like this. It almost caused me to leave when it was printed the first time. This time it will. I will find a more professional site, with more professional authors. Good luck to you.- Jeff -

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Chad Stowe — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 07:45:00 GMT

Right on, Sean! Finally somebody who gets it... and isn't afraid to tell it (and possibly offend folks in the process)!

I work in an environment where everybody curses like a bunch of sailors, and I can honestly say I prefer this environment over the stuff-shirt (mainly religious-right staff dominated) team of DBAs I was on at my former job. After deciding to leave that place, then going to a couple of interviews at companies with people just like the environment I was at... then coming in here, sitting down in the interview and feeling so relaxed as I had more of a conversation than an interview with a couple of guys who recited every swear word in the book while describing what it would be like to work here... SOLD!

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Bob Bridges-173967 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:07:00 GMT

Well said, Clinton!

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Michael-284794 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 04:27:00 GMT

Ok, done reading the forum, time for a serious reply:

Firstly, thanks to Steve and the SSC team for publishing this to start with, and for highlighting it in the "One Year Ago" section today, so that it came to my attention. And, of course, thanks to Sean for the time and effort he took to write it.

Because it's a well-written, engaging, intelligent and funny article which offers some interesting and seldom-given advice on interview technique. Just read it and you'll see. That's right - read it, don't just skim it.

The practice thing is brilliant. His points are spot-on: there's a huge difference between knowing the answer and actually being comfortable rattling it off your tongue, and that comes with spoken practice.

Anf the other two points, religion and language, kind of boil down to the same thing, if you actually understand his POV. It's about professionalism and being yourself at the same time - a tricky balance, but vital to a happy work environment. The professionalism means that you are there to work, not to proselytise. As a Christian, I still don't wan't my colleagues doing stuff like printing "May the Grace of God follow you all your days" on the footer of any company material, unless it is a specifically Christian company. It's just not appropriate. Your personal mission is your own business, but you need to realise that when you are doing something for the comapany, you have a responsibility to put the company's interests first - your personal agenda should never even onter into it.

And please note that Sean wasn't calling religion or anyone's specific religious beliefs "crap" - he used that perjorative to refer specifically to inappropriate usage of religious jargon in a professional environment. And he's absolutely right - leave that crap out of the workplace. Your beliefs, salvation, and faith in God will be with you wherever you go, anyway...

As far as the cursing goes - it's really not a language or politeness issue, it's about being yourself. Too often (and as a veteran interwiewer, I'm sure Sean has seen this plenty of times) a candidate is so eager to get a job that he is happy to present himself as whatever he believes the company is looking for. While this may get you the job, presenting yourself as something other than your true self can only last so long, and it will ultimately involve you being very unhapy with a work environment and team with which you are not actually a natural fit. If you are completely uncomfortable with swearing, that's cool, but understand that some people use it regularly as a form of expression, and in either case, you need to find a work environment which suits you.

Remember that it's not just the company checking you out, it's also you checking the company out, and seeing if you really want to be a part of their team. I've worked in completely puritanically clean-mouthed offices, and I've worked in shops where every second word was unprintable and conversations routinely involved a stream of invectives about bestiality and coprophagia. Obviously those are extremes, but the point is that you need to be comfortable with the other team members if you're going to work with them. Give-and-take and tolerance and being sensitive are all cool, but there's a limit to how much people can go adapt their behaviour against their natural inclinations.

Likewise, if the interviewer curses and you take offense, it's an excellent indication to you that you should probably look elsewhere, and I think Sean would agree with that. There's no point pretending that you're comfortable with something in an interview if it's going to make your skin crawl on a daily basis in the workplace if you actually get the job.

In that light, if you are serious about wanting to work in a place where you can sing the Lord's praises explicitly in every aspect of your job, you actually probably should mention that a few times in the interview, or you run the same risk as someone who doesn't check out the attitude towards colourful language carefully enough...

And as Sean pointed out - don't apologise. Say what you mean. If you want to explain that the documentation was reall sh*t, say exactly that. (And yes, I realise the irony in the fact that I'm not writing it in full, but that's because I don't have complete control over who reads this. Were I speaking in an environment where I deemed it appropriate, I would be necessarily explicit, though not gratuitously so).

That's enough from me. Thanks for the great article, Sean, and I hope to read plenty more from you in the future.

Michael

PS - One final note on the use humour in the article: If you make something funny, you're going to offend. Guaranteed. But the value of incuding humour in your post is that people will actually read all the way through the damn thing, rather than glossing over it, and you have half a chance of actually getting your message across (assuming you have one).

To wit - politicians are not funny, stand-up comedians are offensive.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Paul Cresham — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:57:00 GMT

Beat me to it!

Genius does not imply knowledge of grammar. Besides, who's to know it wasn't grammatically perfect when submitted and subsequently doctored by the editor?

The genius was a possibility; the irony, however, is certain.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Michael-284794 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:30:00 GMT

LMFAO...

...and yes, for those uninitiated in the finer subtleties of online cursing, that stands for "Laugh My F*cking A$$ Off"...

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Michael-284794 — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 03:14:00 GMT

This article was excellent - but only if you actually bothered to read it intelligently!

To quote renrob's reply:

"I'm certain Sean wasn't trying to be offensive, however it is obvious that more than a few voters, um, I mean tech people were offended. With the SSC forum being a microcosm of the "real" world, this serves as a great example of Sean's paraphrased advise: "know your interviewer" before you open your mouth."

The problem is that, as far as publication for a wide audience is concerned, you have three choices:

1) Spew off a stream of moronic, blandly inoffensive platitudes which are useless and devoid of content but unlikely to alienate anyone. This is the route typically taken by successful political candidates.

2) Say what you believe (assuming that your intent is actually to offer useful advice, as I believe was the intent of this article), and hope that your readers are intelligent and open-minded enough to accept your opinions in the manner in which you put them forward, rather than insisting on twisting what you wrote to fit their own private agenda. At the same time, realise that some people are going to be offended.

3) Say nothing.

Options 1) and 3) are never going to help anyone. So the only real option for offering constructive advice is to go with option 2) and grow a thick enough skin to handle the knee-jerk reactionary criticism you're bound to receive from skim-readers looking for something to get upset about.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Gilbert Grant — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 02:04:00 GMT

A refreshing break from the insipid sterility of run-of-the-mill "professional" articles. Its nice you see someone expressing themself for a change - a few useful tips to boot.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Jeffrey Roy — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 13:01:00 GMT

Regarding Steve's "The Great Uproar" piece today, I have to say I hold the Featured Article to a much higher professional standard than the content of the forums. Mr. McCown's "article" might have been better labeled a "Guest Opinion".

An editor is responsible for editing the content of his publication to fullfill his vision. If Steve's vision for SSC is to create a professional publication with broad appeal to a technical audience, this article failed dramatically to deliver on that vision.

If Mr. McCown writes an article in the future that fulfills my needs, I'd like to read it. I place my trust in Steve to edit or reject the article--again using his vision as his guide. An author is reponsible for knowing his target audience. Mr. McCown clearly didn't consider the size and diversity of his audience and needed guidance from his editor.

As a consumer of technical periodicals, I make my choice at the publication level, not the article/author. This article was unprofessional on so many fronts, and--given its location within the publication--it reflects poorly on SSC.

Apology accepted, Steve.

- Jeff -

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Tall Paul — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 12:00:00 GMT

Genius seldom troubles itself with grammatical concerns.

Grammatical and spelling corrections are within the realm of proofreaders.

Would you have the kind author put a poor proofreader out of work?

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Tab Alleman — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:59:00 GMT

welllll, considering the prevalence of grammatical errors in the article, I'm pretty sure it wasn't genius. A "happy accident" perhaps.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Ian Yates — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 07:24:00 GMT

Well observed Paul

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Paul Cresham — Thu, 20 Oct 2005 05:23:00 GMT

By bringing up the subject of religion himself, the author has demonstrated the effect it can have, and the controversy it can spark, by just saying not to mention it.

Irony at its absolute best, and perhaps a stroke of genius.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Steve Muise — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:36:00 GMT

I look at interviewing similar to a first date.

I wear my best suit,
speak with clarity,
look the interviewer in the eye,
repeat back their name,
etc -

all the things I might or might not do in a regular day of work. There is little point in discussing personal issues of any sort, and will always bring any questions back around to the topic at hand. I prefer to keep the entire process efficient, professional, and complete on the issues.

Understanding that since I am interviewing for a position that I expect to get paid for, part of the analysis will be on return on investment (that is value for time spent) - I look to return as much as possible in as little time as possible. As soon as you have opened the door of cursing, religion, politics, etc you can never close it and it may very well cost you a good position.

Religious banter, cursing, talk about sports, politics, weather, etc are conversations I have with my friends, not with an interviewer or a potential boss. In fact, I declined an offer with a company because I thought the owner's language was vulgar and would have been ambarrassed to be with him on a sales call if he used the same language.

As a consultant this has worked well for me, I have increased my salary, position, and reputation every year. I don't want to be known for anything other than my excellent performance in the workplace. My personal life is another matter.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

pg53 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 18:35:00 GMT

Cheers Sean - enjoyed the piece for what it was. Look forward to the next one. Can't believe just how seriously some people are taking this . . . .

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Miles Neale — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 15:01:00 GMT

Well, I agree that a person should be ready for the interview, I agree that it is best not to curse in the interview, and I agree that God Bless You is not a good choice.

What I take away is this,

1. Get prepared, get real prepared.

2. Keep your language clean, and professional.

3. Be appreciative for the interview and thank the interviewers.

4. And when there is little else to say, then say good bye, you are done.

That said, Good Bye! <till next time>

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Stephen E. Cook — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 14:02:00 GMT

i happen to agree with the author on all three of his points. of course, nobody is crying about the "practice answering questions" section so i won't bother with it.it is inappropriate and unprofessional to bring religion into the workplace. face it, no matter what percentage of the population worships the same deity as you, there are still others who don't, and don't want to hear about it. yes, it is "crap" to some of us, especially after spending this much time in a country where the religious right has been trying, and sometimes succeeding, on pressing their morals and values on everyone who lives here. even a simple "God Bless You" presumes that the person you are speaking to shares your beliefs, and it may make them uncomfortable. imagine if every time you had a clever idea to increase profits at the company your coworker told you that Satan values your imagination (and yes, he does! )...my previous job was at a company owned and operated by a family who are Jehova's Witnesses, the archetypal "people who annoy you by bugging you about their religion". they left work early twice a week to go door-knocking, the whole bit. guess what? not once in the year and a half i worked there did any of them say anything to me about their religious beliefs. i actually asked one of them about this, and was told that it wasn't appropriate because witnessing at work would be a detriment to the company and it's atmosphere (but i was more than welcome to discuss it with him off-hours). THAT is professionalism IMHO.as for the cursing bit, why is everyone getting so worked up about this? the author stated up front that he has used both approaches ("always take the high road" and "follow the leader"); as others have pointed out, his meaning is to assess the situation and do what seems best. he even explained why he generally advised not to always "take the high road": if your manager and coworkers curse casually, and you are not comfortable with it (or if the converse is true), that job probably won't lead you to fitting in and working in happiness.i also find it hilarious that people who espouse their religion with ferver, and those that condemn the author for suggesting a potty mouth might land them a job (these are not necessarily the same people) have forgotten to turn the other cheek (because they were too busy judging others) while swearing and calling names.thank you, Sean McCown. it was a good article which was unfortunately overshadowed by the flamewar it induced. hopefully SSC.com won't be bullied by the facists and you can continue the series.a side note: why do people always say that cursing shows lack of intelligence? i have yet to see a scientific study even suggesting this, much less proving it. the fact is, english is an intricate and colorful language, and disregarding any of the words we have in the name of some alleged "higher intelligence level" is moronic at best. i could agree that the inability to refrain from swearing when it is not appropriate shows a lack of refinement or class, but nobody ever claims THAT because they want to jump right to the ad hominem (which is a definite sign of lack of intelligence, unless employed by a cunning linguist who is just toying with the victim of satire).

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

The CosmicTrickster — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:50:00 GMT

Cursing is a sure sign of NON-Intelligence. Intelligent people do not curse. They are smart enough to express themselves with proper grammar.I disagree with this statement. Cursing is a way of expressing emotion, rather than ideas et al. I consider myself to be an intelligent person with a decent vocabulary, but it does not stop me from swearing (admittedly a little too often on occasion).However, there is a time & place for everything. I don't think swearing should be done in an interview (or in front of the customer for that matter). Possible exceptions are if you know the person(s) interviewing you, (relatively common occurrence here in NZ, such a small market), so you already have an idea what is acceptable. Even then, keep it to no worse than a "damn" or a "bugger".As for the religion bit, I'm an atheist but if people want to bless me, that's their call. Having that sort of thing happen constantly would get a bit trying, but part of living in a multi-cultural/religious society is having tolerance. Too many things get blown out of all proportion because people can't just learn to gloss over little things like that or handle them like adults. My 2c.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Tall Paul — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:18:00 GMT

Used to be that it was OK (even encouraged in some circles) to become involved in casual cursing. Why, back in the '70s it became a lifestyle choice for many. People used to engage in casual cursing out in the parking lot at clubs and bars, and it was common to see even high-school kids cursing together in the backseat of cars at the local Drive-In movie.

Later on, in the mid-'80s, it even became fashionable among Hollywood's most elite to hold parties where you would see people engaging in various degrees of casual cursing on crushed-velvet ottomans, and leopard-print beanbags strewn about the place. People even cursed in crowded pools, for crissake...apparently oblivious to the non-cursors around them.

In the early 90's, cursing in public was a common occurrence. It was not unusual to see people casually cursing in parks, while tooling around on high-performance cars in suburban garages, and yes, even while navigating a cartload of groceries and toddlers through the narrow supermarket aisles.

As is common with such movements, the ultra-right soon began to speak out against casual cursing (perhaps because it was something they had never learned to do very well themselves). They began to blame many of society's ills on the very act of casual cursing. Some even began to suggest that maybe cursing was something that should be confined as an activity in the privacy of one's own home, and by those most practiced and adept in its proper use - - the married couple.

Soon casual cursing was blamed for poor performance on high-school equivalency and competency exams, and it gradually fell into disfavor among the general populace.

Nowadays only the staunchest holdouts engage in casual cursing. Indeed, it can be argued that it has become a social faux-pas to engage in unprotected, casual cursing. Casual cursing, for better or worse, has once again become relegated to the backrooms and dingy bars from whence it originated.

*sigh*

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Jason Laincz — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:55:00 GMT

I don't agree with that. I know plenty of intelligent people who curse, though it is usually not casual cursing when they do.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Jereme Guenther — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 12:23:00 GMT

LOL, I am not sure which has been the more amusing read, the article or the posts. I would agree with the not cursing crowd. Some good points were made in the article but I wouldn't take it as an interview reference Bible and I don't think it was intended as such.

As to the gay reference, the word with its original meaning has been around publically a lot longer than the sexual orientation. It is generally a good idea to find out what a person meant before tearing them apart or being hurt by their comment.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Fallen Angel — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:29:00 GMT

This article was a joke and it had nothing to do with interview. However I did agreed on one thing.

"OK, I hate to burst your bubble, but everyone isn't a Christian, nor does everyone want to hear religious expressions at work. Whether your interviewer is an atheist or a Buddhist, coming to talk to him about a job is no time to be a witness for anyone but yourself. You're there to sell yourself, so keep the 'God bless you' and the 'Go with God', and the 'I'll pray for you' crap at home. "

Religious and cursing definitely should not be part of the interview. I had at least over 50 interviews (probably more) in my career life. I could say something about interview.

1. Make sure the job is not posted for those H1 people seeking PR. Their lawyers could find anything in your resume to discredit you no matter how good you are better than their clients.

2. Some company posted (liked mine) the job but actually they already had someone (their friend) in mind for the job, so no matter how good you are, you are doomed.

3. Sometimes I find some people interviewed me had such a low IQ, they can't even think up to your standard and think some decent question to ask you. So it is better off that you don't even get the job. You don't want to work with people claiming they are computer professional while they don't even know how to spell 'Computer'. In my company there are so many people claiming they are SQL Server experts while 90% of them don't even know how to spell 'SELECT'. Worst of all, some of them are outsourced from India because my company want to save money, you can't yell at them and you can't fire them, and you need to learn to listen their 'Engrish'.

4. If you have good technical skill, I am sure you can interview well if you talk straight with the interviewers (consider if they have the same background.) To tell the truth sometimes I think 'LUCK' plays a big part.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

sg95m476 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 10:10:00 GMT

I used to have much higher regard for SQLServerCentral.com than I do now.

I used to visit SSC every morning (as I do other sites -SSWUG.ORG, etc.) to get useful SQL Server news and information.

Now, I am addicted to this circus of a thread to see if SSC will exert any editorial control whatever.

If someone says something in a publication that is insulting and the audience informs the speaker of the insult, the appropriate response is to apologize and issue a retraction - not attack the victim of the insult (or allow others to). This is ridiculous.

I don't think SSC will be a part of my daily routine much longer. There are many other good SQL Server sites that are far more professional.

Chuck Boyce

chuck_boyce@sqlpass.org

http://chuckboyce.blogspot.com

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

KenpoDBA — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:58:00 GMT

thanks greg... that just made my day...

i am working on the next installment now, but sometimes it takes a while to get posted. steve has a lot of submissions to get through...

i want to ensure you guys though that the next piece won't be anything like this one... i've toned it down a lot...

i've cut it down to 1 ritual sacrifice, and 2 sex acts with farm animals... i've also cut down on the language to only make fun of crippled asian jewish-catholic nazi lesbian hookers with toe fungus.

see, who says i dont write to my audience...

sean mccown.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Greg Grow — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:47:00 GMT

I rather enjoyed the article. Sean, your pieces here are worth reading. These circle jerks can't get there head out of there b**t long enough to see that your opinions and thoughts are only to bring up conversion within the forums. This post started good. A lot of people in here have made it worse. It wasn't you, it was the critics.

By the way, Clustered GUIDs SUCK!!!!!!!!!!! Those that use them should attend Kelan Delaney's or Kimberly Tripps Performance Tuning courses. Why they are at it, try Ken Hendersons architecture and internals courses.

I would hate to miss a good columnist for SQL Server Central. You do good work and for the rest of you, I am stunned that anyone would take this article and completely blow it out of proportion. As a DBA for 10+ years and a team member, what ever happened to "Positive Criticism?" Would you ever respond to your own team members the way that you responded to this article. The people here at SQL Server Central are team members to each of us. We use there resources to obtain knowledge, code, articles, and anything else that helps us perform better. I know that I have gained a lot of my knowledge from trial and error due to many articles, discussions, and Question of the Day.

Keep writing Sean. It is your responsibility to bring up opinions and facts. Look at the news. Don't let this post and the negative critics dictate the material.

If you don't like the article, then don't like it. No one asked you too. If you did, then enjoy it and remember that cursing is objective but be careful when doing so. Religions notions should be minimal or not vocalized at all. And be gay ("Happy")

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

[V]enu — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:45:00 GMT

Sean

I like your articles ..and good stuff on PISQL.com ...I laugh my A$$ off all the time ..oops Did I tell A$$ ? oh Yeah!! and I forgot god SUCKS

hope some fellas might hate my postings....

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

David Benoit — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 09:36:00 GMT

Quite honestly that had to be the worst article I have ever seen posted on this site. The article did not cover the topic at hand well at all and appeared to be a way to take pot shots at areas the author doesn't like and exhonorate himself from the responsibility to respect others with his use of language in the workplace. I am glad that my workplace is intollerant of foul language, in interviews and out of them.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Antares686 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:53:00 GMT

Just to throw in here.

First the keys are no matter what you should never use a word consdidered profain event if the interviewer does it. Quite simply put many interviewers pay attention to this even if they do it. In fact I have been told by some folks they will do this to see if a person wil tend to tag along, especially if the job is such that you should be a leader. Another thing that stands out is when a person does make comments that are considered religious in nature and then swears. It is an obvious sign the person has no real convitiction to what they express to be their beliefs, Sunday christians as the expression goes.

Now as for religious comments "God Bless You" and such, this get's tricky for the interviewer and can be grounds for lawsuits. No matter your opinion you don't have the right to be offended nor can you base your decision based on this. The equal employement opportunity laws in the U.S. expressly forbid using religion as a determining factor. You may not agree and may think it unprofessional, but if you ever get caught you and the company will find yourselves in a courtroom. Tred very carefully when this sets foot in your path.

Interviews are more like selling cars than antyhing else.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

BobAtDBS — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 08:42:00 GMT

I rated this article on the low side for very simple reasons. The article covers very few points germane to it's stated purpose, and the author devotes most of the text to a topic (cursing) that has no place in an interview. I agree that pushing your religious beliefs, or politics, or your side job selling Amway, have no place in an interview. But that could have been stated more clearly and with more tact.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

hawryluk — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 07:32:00 GMT

I think everyone is being a little hard on the author here. The views and contexts of the author are just that. I did not necessarily agree with everything, but I was not in the least bit offended. Although out of context and/or derogatory perhaps for some, I was delighted to receive a rare chuckle from the “jar of peanut butter” comment. Though perhaps not the place nor audience for it. I have honestly read/heard/seen worse in some of histories great works and feel that some of the comments directed at the author in this forum surpass the ugliness (however little there may be) of the context and views he expressed.

Badgering and attacking someone for an honest and open view, that has a willingness to share experience and knowledge freely with others, instead of providing appropriate guidance and constructive criticism is shameful.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

ivan gonzalez-195804 — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 06:22:00 GMT

Poor at best, speaks loudly regarding your persona. I had respect for you, I am not sure anymore.

By the way, a 'God Bless You' statement is not an attempt to win someone over but to wish that person blessings from what the person believes is the creator of the universe. Is that so bad?

God Bless You!

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

dougjjj — Wed, 19 Oct 2005 02:36:00 GMT

Great article, I think the bunch of you complaining are taking things a little too seriously, lighten up and laugh like the rest of us.

RE: How To Mess Up An Interview

Tall Paul — Tue, 18 Oct 2005 17:31:00 GMT

Sean, you ROCK, dude.

I knew you were gonna catch it for the "that's so gay" comment.

But mostly because I have been overloaded with political correctness in the past decade or so.

Still, some of y'all just REALLY need to get a life and lighten up.

seriously.

now.

go ahead.

we'll wait.