The Principles of Flirting Applied to Interviews By: Jun Loayza
Under: Fun, InterviewWhether anyone likes to admit it or not, interviewing and recruitment are all about politics. And I don’t mean the presidential election. What I mean by politics is that what ultimately determines if you get the offer is whether the company loved you. More specifically, you’ll get the offer if your interviewer loved you. That’s it, plain and simple. If the company loves you, then you’re getting a phone call with the offer. If the company disliked you or just didn’t care about you, then you’re getting the dreaded letter in the mail. This brings me to the point of this blog: should you flirt with your interviewer?No one is going to admit that you should. Career center, career counselors, your friends, recruiters, and company representatives will all tell you to keep the interview professional and to try and find a common ground of interest, but to never cross the “professional line.” However, I want you to take a step back, open your mind, and continue reading what I’m writing.
The fact is that people are attracted to people. I’m going to honestly tell you that during my recruitment season, I knew that I was going to have a terrific interview when I walked into the interview room and the person sitting across from me was a woman. Now, don’t think that I interview poorly with men. I feel that I interview just as well with both, but find it much easier and smoother to interview with woman. The best way for me to relate this to you is by telling you an example:
I made it to second rounds with a company and I wore my best suit and tie to interview at the office. As FD Style tells you to do, I connected well with all of my peers who I was recruiting with and connected exceptionally well with the receptionist at the front desk. My buddy (the office buddy that is assigned to you) and I were chatting and laughing together telling each other stories while she walked me to my interviewer’s office. We walked into the office still laughing and she introduced me to a very attractive woman in her late 20’s who was my interviewer. We sat down and she asked me what we were laughing about. I casually mentioned that we were talking about our experiences with undie run at UCLA. Of course she asked what undie run was and I teasingly said,
“Oh, I don’t think you can handle what undie run is.”
She replied, “Oh really? Try me.”
So I told her what it was and she said, “I wish we had something like that on our campus”
“You would have loved it. So I’m getting the feeling that you went a little crazy as an undergrad, am I right? Were you in any sororities?” I continued
And the conversation took off from there. Lame? You could say that, but you can’t deny the fact that her and I connected well, and she definitely liked having a conversation with me. I made it fun and exciting by teasing her and assuming things about her. We hit it off during the interview and I still keep in contact with her today.
So, am I telling you to go out there and flirt with every interviewer? NO, that is not what I am saying. My point was to give you an example of a time that it worked for me and how it is possible to flirt with the interviewer successfully. If you’ve been reading our materials, then you know that one of the first rules of interviewing is that you must always smile. Don’t flirt with the interviewer if you’re not comfortable, but at least always keep a smile on your face. Smiles are attractive, and you’ll hopefully brighten up your interviewer’s day.
How and what to say to flirt successfully is completely out of the scope of this blog. What I want you to take away from this blog is the knowledge that looks, appeal, and personality play a major role during the recruitment process. Use this knowledge to your advantage and implement it into your interviewing and recruitment strategies.
Popularity: 19% [?]
