Smiley face on a job application.

[RunBackwards]

Please, just don't

Probably don't mention twice how good your "banter" is either, it distracts from the fact that actually, your experience could be just what we need.

When I was involved in recruiting for IT role we were just desperate for someone actually capable of doing the job.
We switched to interview method that involved practical tasks in order to dismiss the ones who could talk the talk but not walk the walk.
Meant sitting through excruciating sessions where person was Googling basic questions on the skill their cv had stated they had X years of experience in, or in one case someone who walked out on hearing about the practical element as she didn't like being watched.
Lack of eye contact would not have bothered us if evidence of skills was shown, although some ability to communicate was also required in the team.

@AmadeustheAlpaca

Interviewers, please don’t waste time interviewing potential candidates when you have already decided prior to the interview who is getting the job and have to be seen to pretend that it’s an open competition. It causes so much distress and anxiety for decent candidates who have taken time and trouble to fill out application forms and stressed about their interview. It is a waste of everyone’s time. So many job interviews are just box ticking. This is quite a nasty sneering thread

Amadeus - I agree with the first part of you comment. My DH went to an interview and met some of the other candidates, one of whom had flown from Australia at his own expense. The person who got the job was already working for the company but they needed to interview the 5 best prospects.

But I don't think it's a sneering thread. Some of the comments are quite true and might help someone. And some are just a bit of silly fun.

Just to let the mums of autistic children on this thread who are worried about them having to perform like a salesman in interviews, and who know they’ll find it hard to hold eye contact etc.. but would be great at the job if given a chance..

Some interviewers will understand, and will do everything they can to make the interview as beneficial as possible to both parties. I interview candidates, and both myself and my colleague will do everything we can to put people at ease. We aren’t hiring for sales people, and we know interviews are a very stressful event for a lot of people - including us when on the applicant side! Answering the technical questions correctly etc.. will matter to us, being unable to hold eye contact or coming across a little awkwardly won’t.

"And some are just a bit of silly fun."

People often have fun when they're laughing about other people. Doesn't make it right.

It causes so much distress and anxiety for decent candidates who have taken time and trouble to fill out application forms and stressed about their interview. It is a waste of everyone’s time. So many job interviews are just box ticking. This is quite a nasty sneering thread It' snot that much fun the other side of the desk! So many times we have put together a well thought out, all encompassing day of interview only to have disinterested, rude, time wasters (some of whom have great applications) wander through trying to tell you that you have got it all wrong... or that they don't think their big brain wil fit into your small box of a job!

Applicants box tick too!

And I suspect that many here are venting... others passing on things that bemused them.

Or do you want the ins and outs of the applicant for a science lecturing job who lied about absolutely everything? They were a great applicant, favoured by all who met them during the process, number one applicant, offered the job! Then we fond that nothing they had told us was true... country of birth, degree, previous jobs etc etc etc.

There's probably be more of these than anyone might think!!

Answering the technical questions correctly etc.. will matter to us, being unable to hold eye contact or coming across a little awkwardly won’t.

^ this

I totally agree with the op
Completely. However I think we are some how old fashioned ? I got made redundant from a very professional role and I found something related to that industry. They are texting clients with emojis, zoom calling clients ( unnecessary) and emailing with smiley faces . I mentioned this to HO and they said that is ok !
A few years ago I had to visit a really big company in Stockholm for work purposes...it was starting then , they never picked up the phone , emailed each other from across the room and told us as their clients they wont answer the phone to us only communicate via text or email ?!! Their offices looked like a sixth form common room and this is a multi billion pound company. No one was dressed in anything smarter than a track suit. Am I a dinosaur? I digress
With everything going online during this year I think everyone is getting more matey and less professional.

I want to be Head of Hedgehogs.

@SmudgeButt

Make sure your interests are appropriate to the type of role applied for and the image you want to project.

I'm sure there are some jobs where having "clubbing and drinking with me mates" would peak someone's interest in you. And there's others where a declaration of your love of "knitting, cats and gardening" is perfect.

I prefer candidates who have their interest piqued. But then, I am a stickler for detial!

Thanks for feedback in tea making comments being eye roll worthy!

A colleague said this week that is what they had said at an interview and I thought it was a ridiculous comment to make!

But...they are a managerial role and have interviewed candidates before so of course they have the better opinion! 😂😂

@YesPleaseMary

I want to be Head of Hedgehogs.

The Headgehog, surely

purplekitty I would see it as a lighthearted, ice-breaker comment and respond in kind, hence my earlier reply.

you don't see 'hence' on MN all that often, does that make me a Hencehog ?

when ever I wrote essays I could count the times I used "however" & tried to think of alternative (see what I did?) ways of saying that
so presumably I would be Howeverhog

I went for an interview to be a trainee dental nurse when I was much younger...

Them: “I assume you’re not squeamish at all?”
Me: “No! I absolutely love a bit of blood and gore!”

Not the right answer 😂

MrsA I would have put you at the top of my 'yes' pile for that answer.

Employing mostly techies, lack of eye contact and quirkiness is no barrier, its kind of expected and they are often the ones who make the best candidates not the overly polished, sell themselves then learn about the job later types.

@NastyBlouse - very good!

Don't have as your only listing under relevant experience "I listen to a podcast about psychology once a week".

Smudge Butt: I take your point about the thread not being sneering. However it is completely immoral about the person who flew from Australia at their own expense when it had been already secretly decided who had got the job. They shouldn’t have been called for interview.

When I was a PA we had someone come in for a job who said one of his strengths was juggling.

The usually straight-laced director had those little beanbag-type juggling balls in his desk drawer, handed them over to him and he was indeed a whizz with them. He got the job

I took DS for an interview at a school. I went in for a ‘chat’ with the head and left him with the school secretaries. When I came out they were all juggling stress balls and fruit.

@AmadeustheAlpaca

Interviewers, please don’t waste time interviewing potential candidates when you have already decided prior to the interview who is getting the job and have to be seen to pretend that it’s an open competition. It causes so much distress and anxiety for decent candidates who have taken time and trouble to fill out application forms and stressed about their interview. It is a waste of everyone’s time. So many job interviews are just box ticking. This is quite a nasty sneering thread

YES - thank you, @AmadeustheAlpaca

On the comic sans front

Not really. It's not that easy to read. Many organisations ask for it not to be used but somewhere along the lines it got touted as a great typeface for clarity, preferred by peope with dyslexia. There is no evidence for that! It's al just something that grew somehow. It 'is said to fix things like the misreading of a, o and g - which actually aren't issues for kids learning to read, with or without dyslexia! It's just an assumption that got taken for granted!

That is not what the the British Dyslexia Association say

www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/advice/employers/creating-a-dyslexia-friendly-workplace/dyslexia-friendly-style-guide

I believe them (and my dyslexic colleagues - though we tend to use Arial, which helps)

@Lougle

"Please make eye contact."

Please get some disability awareness training.

I’ve heard and read recruitment and disability awareness training aplenty. I recruit to posts where the ability to engage, to communicate effectively, to present formally and informally are a core requirement. If you can’t overcome challenges in making eye contact and engaging a Board, I cannot employ you. There are other roles in the organisation where people with autism can work but not ‘front of house’. I don’t recruit to those roles.

I'll just leave this here...

Or, in answer to a question in a Zoom interview about working from home, pull up your perfectly presentable and professional top to show me you still have your full pyjamas on underneath...