Interview for a Job: What Interviewers Look For Should Not Be a Mystery!
Interview for a Job: Explaining What Job Interviewers Look For
Do Job Interviewers want to shake hands? Is it true recruiters hate red and men with earrings? What do interviewers look for? We have the answers for you! Here’s what applicants need to know about the job interviewing process.
Interview Success: The do’s and don’t When You Interview for a Job
Interviewing for a job is a nerve-wracking experience for most people. However, it helps if you have a better understanding of the things that turn a recruiter off so that you can avoid doing them.
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What Job Applicants Should Know Before They Interview for a Job
In our highly competitive job market, interviewing is an important part of the selection and hiring process. But for many job seekers, the idea of being interviewed can be intimidating and overwhelming. Unfortunately, this can lead to a number of myths and misconceptions about what the interviewing process is really like.
Before You Interview for a Job Know This About Interviewers
Let’s take a closer look at their findings and explore what job applicants need to know before they interview for a job. Whether you’re a recent graduate or a seasoned professional, understanding these key insights can help you prepare for your next interview and increase your chances of landing the job.
1. How hard do you shake your job interviewer’s hand?
Big sweaty palm squeeze?
Is a good handshake important when you interview for a job?
- Firm handshakes make a better first impression and are perceived as more extroverted and open. Firm handshakes have higher emotional expression and positive affect.
- People with firm handshakes are seen as less shy and neurotic.
- Women with a firm handshake are evaluated as positively as men. In addition, women with firm handshakes were seen as more open compared to women with less firm handshakes.
How to impress job interviewers?
2. What clothes are best when you interview for a job?
Men take note! 65 Per cent of human resource specialists surveyed said that men should not wear earrings.
What Women Should Wear to a Job Interview
Women should generally wear clothes that are masculine in nature.
Examples are vertical lines, straight silhouettes, strong angular lines, large-scale details, heavy textures, strong colour contrasts, and dark or dull colours. If women wear more masculine clothes, they are perceived as more forceful, self-reliant, dynamic, aggressive, and decisive. Women who wear more masculine clothes are more likely to be recommended for hire.
However, this effect only works up to a point. Women who wore the most masculine attire actually received lower ratings than women who wore moderately masculine suits (i.e., beige tailored suit with a blazer jacket and a rust blouse with a small self bow at the neck.
Conservative clothes are the most acceptable for men and women
For women, dress styles recruiters find most acceptable include a tailored suit, shoulder-length hair, classic pump, and a clutch bag. For men, recruiters prefer them to wear a two-piece suit, have a short hairstyle, oxford shoes, and a briefcase.
Wear a blue jacket, this is perceived as more competent and properly dressed than wearing a red or no jacket at all. Men should wear darker colours and layering i.e. the traditional dark suit. Women who wear a dark jacket are rated as more potent (i.e., competent and bold).
3. Do job interviewers like beards?
How much does grooming count? Should men shave before interviewing for a job?
- Data suggests that fewer bearded applicants were selected for management positions.
- Recruiters do not like men with untrimmed beards.
4. Should I cut my hair before I attend an interview for a job?
The study reveals that the length and type of hair on a man doesn’t matter much to recruiters, as long as he looks clean and neat.
However, recruiters tend to be more tolerant about hair than the managers who actually do the hiring.
So when you meet your potential boss, you might want to carefully style your hair to reflect them.
5. Should I wear glasses or contact lenses when I attend an interview for a job?
Wearing glasses makes you look more intelligent, hard-working, and successful. However, glasses are also rated as less active, outgoing, and athletic.
Contacts or glasses? Wearing eyeglasses had little effect on recruiters. Wear glasses if it fits the job stereotype (i.e., teacher).
6. Should I research the organization before the interview for a job?
One way to stand out in a job interview is to ask thoughtful questions about the company and the position.
If you don’t do the research, you won’t be asking informed questions.
84 per cent of human resource specialists agree that applicants should have some knowledge of the organization.
Posts about Researching:
7. What time should I arrive to a job interview?
Do not arrive late as research has shown that it could lower your ratings.
8. Should I interview for a job in the morning or afternoon?
66 per cent of human resource specialists prefer to interview between 8:00 am and 12:00 pm.
9. Do I have to write a thank-you note after being interviewed for a job?
88 per cent of human resource specialists indicated that a thank-you note or follow-up letter sent after the interview is an effective technique.
Follow-up emails after a job interview can help hold the interviewers interest and demonstrate your enthusiasm for the position.
Related Posts
We recommend reading the study, it’s not ‘too academic’ and is very interesting: What-Applicants-Need-to-Know-about-the-Interviewing-Process-Separating-Fact-from-Fiction.pdf by James A. Tan and Kenneth E. Graham



