We have all been there; the words are out before you had time to censor them…..
I was truly horrified reading the story that Sarah Palin (Former Republican vice-presidential nominee) said that immigrants to the US should “speak American”. Now in fairness to the Irish Times they did put the quote in context where she quickly corrected herself, but none the less, it was out there.
In some ways I do feel bad for her if not more so her handlers. Regardless of her political views and her alliances all anyone will remember is that one sentence. Hands up, I don’t know what else she said of relevance in that interview but you can be sure that many hours went in to preparing for it with the support of a highly skilled and professional team, and all that work and messaging was destroyed in seconds.
So the relevance here is, that in our business we always advise candidates that the interview starts the minute you walk in the front door, to the time you leave that same front door. The idle chit chat on the way to the interview room and on the way back; your acknowledgement of the receptionist or security person is all taken into consideration. So when it comes to the interview be switched on, professional and polite the whole time and stay in control.
As Recruiters we focus a lot on managing the interview and your technique, and it’s a very big part of the process; but coming back to a previous piece, this is also about managing your brand. Be careful what you say and how you say it. Today’s peer could be tomorrow’s manager and vice versa, and you don’t want one stupid comment to over shadow the core of that relationship, you really don’t want to be “the person who said….” you want to be “the person who did… “
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