Page 53 - 201 Best Questions To Ask On Your Interview

THE RULES OF THE GAME

You clearly have a chip on your shoulder. Why should we take a chance
that you don’t have other interpersonal issues?

The job description mentions weekend work.Are you serious?
We’re serious about the job description. We’re suddenly less serious
about you.

You get the picture. Don’t raise red flags. Once the interviewer has de-
cided that you are the right person for the job, you will find the em-
ployer to be much more accommodating about issues like these. Wait
until after you have the offer in hand before you raise these questions.

WHAT ABOUT HUMOR?
Charles Handler, today the head of Rocket-hire.com, recounts this object
lesson. Interviewing for a recruiting job with the company’s CEO, Han-
dler was trying to make a point about the most reliable methods of se-
lecting employees. In an attempt to be lighthearted, Handler said that he
supported every way of selecting employees except graphology. Graphol-
ogy is the study of handwriting as a means of analyzing character.
You can guess what happened next. The CEO looked up with a tight
smile and slowly informed Handler that graphology was his hobby and
that he thought the practice had substantial merit.
The good news is at the end of the day, the wisecrack didn’t hurt Han-
dler. He still received a job offer. But it did teach him a lesson. “Think
twice about making a joke or a wisecrack,” he says. “Any subject you
choose, no matter how seemingly innocuous, has the potential for alien-
ating the interviewer.”
On the other hand, humor elegantly framed and sharply focused can
be effective and advantageous. But it must come naturally to you. Noth-
ing is as risky as forced humor. Amateurs shouldn’t try this at the office.
A half-baked attempt at humor can seriously backfire on you, and if you
offend the interviewer—a possibility less and less discountable in these
politically correct times—you will never recover. For that reason many
job coaches advise against any attempt at humor, sarcasm, or teasing.
Just play it straight, they say, and you can’t go wrong.
Some hiring managers welcome humor because it demonstrates you
can keep work in a proper perspective. “The ability to laugh at yourself

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