By Eric B. Meyer
I heard this story once about a law-school graduate who was looking for his first job out of school. He applied to several local Philadelphia-area law firms, and ultimately received an interview from one of them.
The job interview was with two seasoned partners.
According to this recent Career Builder survey, when it comes to a job interview, the first few minutes may be the most crucial. Nearly half (49 percent) of employers know within the first five minutes of an interview whether a candidate is a good or bad fit for the position, and 87 percent know within the first 15 minutes.
This interview started off well.
But, less than 15 minutes into the interview, the focus shifted. You see, as most lawyers do, the partners eventually spent more of the interview time talking about themselves, than learning about the law-school graduate.
Indeed, the “conversation” devolved into the lawyers complimenting each other on their legal acumen and many accomplishments:
“John here, just represented a multi-billion dollar conglomerate in an asset purchase of la-di-dah.“
“Well, Ron, here, just won his three-week-long qui tam such and such in federal court.”
“But John, here, also sits on the board of blah blah blah“
“And Ron…”
You get the idea. It reached the point where the law-school grad was unable to get in a word edge-wise. That is, until he politely interjected:
“Would you gentlemen like for me to leave the room so that the two of you may have some alone time together?“
How I wish I could have been a fly on the wall at the precise moment that the partners’ brows furrowed and the “what the f**k did he just say?” look formed on their faces!
Hey, I would have hired that spunky law grad on the spot! But, from this employer’s standpoint, it was a pretty big interview blunder.
With that, here are other memorable ones shared with CareerBuilder as part of its most recent employer survey:
I think my story tops ’em. And below (and here) is another one that didn’t make the survey. It’s not safe for work, but it blows checking Facebook, hugs, and jogging suits out of the water. #Truth
This was originally published on Eric B. Meyer’s blog, The Employer Handbook.