Red flag central: Major turn-offs that every applicant should avoid

1. Inappropriate attire: wearing slippers (even if it’s a pair that costs over P1,000, they are still slippers and not office attire), sandos, jeans and other non-business attire for an interview.

2. Bad hygiene: applicants who have bad breath or body odor inspire interviewers to cut things short. Even if you need to relieve stress, avoid smoking before the interview; if you really must, wash your hands and chew gum. Do not use too much perfume or apply too much makeup. Just keep it simple, look neat, and smell clean and that will take you a long way.

3. Trashy resumes: Folded and crumpled resumes say you don’t care. Resumes that have been photocopied, biodata forms, resumes that lack contact numbers and include emails like bratinellaprincessbabe, cut_ako, or ihaveabigjuicyhotdog.

4. Rude interruptions. Turn your cell phone off during an interview. Period.

5. Mommy or daddy tag-alongs. Ed Cruz, senior executive for talent acquisition at Aditya Birla Minacs says, “When you are a fresh grad, it is understandable that you would bring someone along. But please do not bring your mommy upstairs with you to the office. We’ve had cases when it is mommy who asks the receptionist why it is taking so long for us to call the applicant in. Just tell mommy to meet you downstairs when the interview is done.”

6. Getting too personal. Nobody, repeat, nobody wants to hear your life or sob story. Job interviews determine who deserves the job based on credentials, not on “cry”-dentials.

7. Badmouthing the former employer. This simply inspires backgroung checks on you, and who do you think the prospective employer is going to believe? Not you.

8. Being rude. Do not treat the guard or the receptionist poorly because good interviewers make sure to talk to them too. Companies with clients have no room for rude personnel. Being late also falls under rudeness, and so does namedropping, which is one interviewer pet peeve.

9. Talking money. Application periods are the wrong time to ask about money. Never ask about it, because that’s a sure way to get rejected.

10. A wishy-washy handshake. Don’t handle your interviewer like a dead fish, and don’t pump their hands excessively. a firm and short handshake is enough.

-Adapted from M.D. Pamaran, Manila Bulletin