Date published: 01.09.08 - not release date

Office etiquette - manners matter

OFFICE ETIQUETTE - MANNERS DO MATTER

According to a snapshot survey by events, marketing and office support recruiter Regan & Dean, over a quarter of all employers have witnessed examples of bad manners during interviews.

“As recruiters, we obviously interview many candidates oursleves – and have witnessed various lapses of office etiquette”, says Narelle Lester, MD of Regan & Dean. “Take, for example, the candidate who chewed gum all the way through her interview or the candidate who turned up at a client interview and immediately walked out saying that she wouldn’t be staying as she had bad karma about the aura of the establishment.”

Candidates who don’t apologies for being late are also a no – no, says Lester, as are candidates who assume they can dress down for an interview without checking on the culture of the company. And there are many more examples– candidates who have eaten during interviews ( yes really!), answered calls on their mobile, used bad language, looked bored throughout their interview, asked the interviewer “why should I work here?” The list goes on and on.

“Over confidence can also often come across as rudeness”, says Lester. “We had a candidate who interviewed with a large agency for a position as a PA in the events management team. She had only had limited experience but commented negatively about one of the case studies on the company’s website – the interviewer had been a member of that very events team and obviously took the comments very personally.”

“At the end of the day, good manners really do matter – and could make the difference between gaining the respect of superiors and peers – or being looked upon with disdain. If you do make a slip up – being late, forgetting to turn off your phone in a meeting, interrupting someone etc – then how you deal with it – and how you apologise - will make all the difference to how you, as a person and employee, are perceived. Phone calls and e-mails should be responded to within twenty four hours and business e-mails should be written as a business letter- beware of over familiarity, spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Good manners are empowering and all employers know that while civility will get you a long way – bad manners are also very bad for business!”

- Ends -

Tracey dunn
Bluesky PR
Tel: 0845 3700125
Email: tracey@bluesky-pr.net