Not all employers will be concerned about body piercings but remember you don’t get much time at a job interview to impress the employer and face jewellery could take their focus away from the skills you are there to offer. First impressions play a major part of interviews.
Job Interview Etiquette
Time keeping: Be on time. Don’t give the interviewer reason to wonder if you have a pattern of tardiness before you even get into the interview room!
Being early is the ideal situation for you and the interviewer as you may be required to complete some forms before the actual interview, arriving early gives you the opportunity to take care of this without running into a time crunch.
Image: Cover tattoos and remove piercings that are non-traditional; such as your ears. A job interview may not be the best place to exhibit your body art! Remember, you are making a first impression and your interviewers may be a bit more conservative than you are. Unfortunately a tattoo that says ?Biker Babe? or ?Scarface? may not give an impression of professionalism to the interviewers. Whether they are designs or words, if possible keep your tattoos covered.
As a human being you are granted the right to freedom of expression, however, non-traditional piercings, whether they be in your eyebrow, nose, lip or tongue do not shout professionalism when in a job interview. It is always wise to assume that your interviewer and possibly soon to be colleague or boss is not as cool as you are, leave the body expressions to later in the day when you have got to know everyone.
Respect: Show repsect and be polite with everyone you meet as you don’t know who is responsible for hiring and firing, the interviewer may not have the overall decision on whether to offer you the job or not.
Be prepared: Make sure that you have a pen and paper with you at your interview, more than likely you will not have to write anything down but on the odd occasion that you do, the last thing you need is the embarrassement of asking your interviewer for a pen and paper. Being unprepared gives the impression that you are unorganised.
Do your research: Covering the background of the company you are having the interview with gives the impression that you are not just going from one job interview to another and have an interest in the company and the position being offered. Asking questions about the company or job could well put you in good stead.
Dressing: Your job interview should be treated as a formal affair and you should dress for this. Men: Wear a suit and tie, or shirt and tie with slacks if you don?t have a suit. Women: Wear a business suit, blouse and skirt, with sensible shoes. Try not to be too flashy or revealing.
Grooming: Along with your image you should make sure you are well gromed, ensure your hair looks nice and is clean, do not have dirt under your fingernails! Iron your clothes, you do not want to give the impression you leap out of bed 10 minutes before work leaving no time spare to groom yourself, this also shows lazyness. Men should appear cleanly shaven or if you have a beard - trim it.
Turn off your Cell phone: You must not have your phone switched on in an interview, it is extremely rude to have that ringing while you are in the middle of an interview, if you really cannot switch it off then at least put it on vibrate, so long as it does not distract you or the interviewer.
Greetings: We mentioned your politeness earlier but minding your Ps & Qs should also be considered. Shake hands with everyone you meet, smile and be polite. Do the same when you are ready to leave and thank them for their time, you could even consider a brief thank you note soon after the interview, not many applicants would do this so this is another way to stand out in a crowd.
Hope that helps you with your job interview etiquette 😊
