Objective: Get a job; First step: Survive the interview

Friday, Nov. 6, 2009

At a workshop at Calvert Library Prince Frederick last month, Judy Angelheart, client services manager at the county's Southern Maryland Workforce Services office, gave four women tips and strategies for avoiding the pitfalls of the job interview process.

A successful interview is all about balance: seeming confident but not cocky, seeming outgoing without talking too much.

"Have you ever had a candidate come in who didn't know when to stop talking? That's more frustrating to an interviewer than the candidate who didn't talk enough because there it's just, ‘whatever,'" Angelheart said.

Jeanne Rosenberger of Lusby said she once disqualified a motor-mouth applicant.

"The more they talked, the more information I got that took them out of the running. … Less is more," Rosenberger said.

"We don't want to be that person who talks so much you talk yourself into a hole," Angelheart agreed.

Interviewers expect applicants to be nervous, Angelheart said. The key is to seem relatively confident without acting too much at-home.

Gail Patterson of Huntingtown recalled being left alone briefly in her interviewer's office when the phone rang. Reflexively, she answered it. She took a message and passed it on, but her potential employers seemed taken aback by her boldness. She wasn't offered a job.

Good manners are also essential, Angelheart said, like good posture and waiting to be invited before taking a seat.

"All those old-fashioned manners, you're going to stand out if you have them because so many people do not have them," Angelheart said.

Accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative because that is what interviewers want to hear, Angelheart said.

"We're sheep. We're just sheep. Bah. Our brains are hardwired for positive," she said. Even if asked, never admit to having had a problem.

"I don't have problems, not a one. I have solutions. I'm Mary Poppins, watch me pop something out of my bag. What do you need?" she said.

Showing an ability to get along with people is also vital but needs to be handled carefully, she said.

"There's very few companies that aren't looking for a people person. Please don't tell them that, though: ‘Hi, I'm a people person, I love people.'"

At the moment, just getting to an interview is a challenge. Angelheart suggested using temp agencies to get a foot in the door but warned that a few serving Southern Maryland have closed during the downturn.

Even the work available is less attractive than could be hoped.

"I was looking at a job description and they were offering $9.75 an hour. I could not believe it," Patterson said.

Amy Talbert of Huntingtown said she enjoyed the presentation. "She's really educational," she said.

One woman declined to give her name because she works for her husband, who doesn't know she's seeking other work.

"I'm having coffee with a girlfriend," she had told her husband.

The next workshop in the series covers resume and cover letter writing and will be 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Workforce Services office. For more information, call 443-550-6750, or visit the center at 200 Duke Street, No. 1400, in Prince Frederick.

emitrano@somdnews.com