It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Candidate was dressed too casually on a Zoom interview
I recently conducted Zoom interviews for a professional position. One of the applicants answered questions well, had an advanced degree, had relevant experience, and seemed to have a positive attitude. I really liked them and could see them fitting in with the current team.
There was an aspect of the interview that gave me pause. The candidate was sitting on their bed with the headboard clearly visible and was dressed very casually (think sweatshirt).
My office culture is mixed. There are casual and formal days. However, there are frequent client interactions where professionalism and a formal, polished appearance is considered important. If the applicant presented themselves in a casual manner during the second interview with the executive leadership panel, they would not be considered.
Given that they interviewed well and seem to be a good fit otherwise, should I give them a chance? Should I briefly remind them that the second interview is a FORMAL interview? I’m worried about their overall judgment, and I’m also worried it will reflect on me if I’m advancing possible candidates who do not present themselves professionally.
People aren’t always clear about how to adjust normal interview expectations for Covid/Zoom times. It’s possible that this person would have dressed more professionally in-person. It’s also possible that they wouldn’t have, who knows.
The best thing to do is to address it head-on. Don’t rely on hints (“this next interview is a formal interview” — which sounds like it might be about the meeting format, not the expected dress). Say something like, “We have frequent client interactions where a formal, polished appearance is important. For this next interview, please dress as you would for a formal client meeting (for us, that generally means a suit).”
The bedroom is a bit harder. That may be the only place in the candidate’s home where they could do the interview. If they’d need a different spot for client meetings, it’s worth addressing that head-on too so you can both figure out if that’s something they’d be able to do … but I’d give a lot of leeway if this is a job that wasn’t intended to be remote and won’t stay remote forever. (It’s reasonable to expect candidates in permanently remote jobs to have a professional-looking space to take video calls; it’s not as reasonable to expect it of people who are only at home because of the pandemic.)
2. Do I need to wear my breast prosthetics consistently or not at all?
Early during Covid, I was laid off and then shortly after diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy. I’m comfortable being flat or wearing my prosthetics. My question is this: as I start my search and look to returning to work, do I need to choose either flat all the time or prosthetics all the time, or can I choose which I feel like each day? I don’t know how others would take that, and I don’t want to make others uncomfortable. But for me, sometimes the prosthetics are uncomfortable.
Do what makes you comfortable, even if that’s wearing prosthetics sometimes and not other times. No one at work should be thinking about your breasts enough for this to be an issue.
That’s not to say that no one will notice; we don’t block out shapes entirely and some people can’t help noticing changes. But it would be incredibly rude for anyone at work to take issue with or have feelings about what’s going on with your chest.
3. Was this hiring process deceitful?
I work for a large retail company and am currently a mid-level manager. In June I applied for a position that is considered a promotion with another store in my city. Everything went great with my screening call from our recruiter and she even mentioned I had some of the best answers she heard all day. Next came my interview. It went great as well, but unfortunately I did not get the job. I got some really great feedback but was told it had came down to the wire between me and another candidate.
Another opening was posted for the same position but in a store in a different city. My screening call was with the same recruiter from June and she remembered me and had all her notes from the first time around. She didn’t even ask me any of the questions since she said I did great last time and she still had all the notes. A week later, I received an email stating they decided not to go any further with my application. I didn’t even get an interview. Since I was qualified the first time to get the interview, how could I be denied an interview this time? Could this be the basis of some lawsuit for deceitful hiring practices?
No, there’s no lawsuit here. There are a ton of perfectly legal reasons they might have decided not to interview you, like that you were good but other people were better, or you were great but so were 20 other people and they couldn’t interview all of you, or something about this job wasn’t as well-suited for you as you’d thought, or they had an internal candidate already in mind, or they changed the role and are looking for something different, and a zillion other possible reasons.
You’re never entitled to an interview, even if they gave you positive feedback and even as an internal candidate. They weren’t deceitful; they just decided to focus on other candidates.
4. Will I be automatically rejected if my resume doesn’t include my street address?
I was just told that applicant tracking systems (ATS’s) are automatically rejecting resumes without physical street addresses on them, so if you are applying through any ATS at all, you should be putting a physical street address on your resume. Is this true, in your experience? I ask because it seems like terrible safety practice, and also because I absolutely do not put a physical address on my resume and while it’s true that the last time I was applying was about 18 months ago, I made it to the final round of interviews for two jobs in two different states without a physical address on my resume.
Nah. I mean, ATS’s can be configured to do whatever the employer wants them to do, but this isn’t a trend. An employer that wants to require a physical address will just make that a required question in their ATS; they don’t need to pull from the resume at all.
For what it’s worth: Some time ago, it did look odd not to have a physical address on your resume — not because employers ever really used it, mostly, but just because it was the convention. (Here’s what I wrote about it in 2014.) But that’s really changed in the last 5+ years, and it’s very common for resumes not to include them now. That said, it’s generally to your advantage to include a city and state even if you’re not including your stress address — if you don’t, that does still look a little odd and will make employers think you might not be local (which can matter if they have a strong preference for local candidates, which can be a legitimate thing).
5. When should I announce my new job?
Thanks to your advice, I landed a great job in my field after being laid off due to COVID several months ago. It involves relocation and aligns with my career goals!
I want to announce this on my Facebook page, as there are many people that are former colleagues. When would be an appropriate time to announce this? After I have been in the job for a couple of weeks? On the first day?
My other issue is that I don’t want to seem rude to my friends who have lost their job due to COVID, but I am also excited and want to share the news and possibly reach out to possible connections in my new city. So when and how should I announce the new position?
Go ahead and announce it whenever you want! Some people are cautious and wait to announce it until they’ve actually started (in case something falls through); you can do that if you want, but once you’ve started there’s no need to hold off on announcing it.
You’re not going to seem rude to unemployed friends. Having a job isn’t rude, and you’re not gloating — you’re sharing happy news. Friends will be happy for you (and your news may give them hope for themselves).
candidate was dressed too casually, upset about hiring process, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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