Page 52 - 301 Best Questions to Ask on Your Interview, Second Edition

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD NEVER INITIATE

fire on you, and if you offend the interviewer—a possibility less
and less discountable in these politically correct times—you may
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.

However, some hiring managers welcome humor because it dem-
onstrates you can keep work in a proper perspective. “The ability
to laugh at yourself is a great attribute,” says Susan Trainer. “It
means you don’t take yourself too seriously, which is a very attrac-
tive trait.”

Other recruiters are skeptical. “I want my questions taken seri-
ously,” warns Bryan Debenport, corporate recruiter at Alcon Labo-
ratories, a three-thousand-employee manufacturer of ophthalmic
products in Fort Worth, Texas. “Humor may be appropriate at the
start and finish of interviews, but use it sparingly.”

The goal of using humor is to bond with the interviewer, to use
your shared senses of humor as a way to underscore the prospect
that you will fit into the organization. Of course, if your perspective
and that of the hiring manager seriously differ, then your attempt at
humor will only underscore the disconnect.

At the same time, when people laugh, certain physiological
changes take place that make people more flexible, relaxed, and—
this is what you most want—agreeable. Humor is also synonymous
with wit—and wit is born of intelligence. No wonder recruiters look
for candidates with this quality. Let the interviewer set the tone. If
the interviewer starts with a joke and seems to be in good humor,
you can try for a little self-deprecating humor.

Make Fun Only of Yourself

The only thing you can make fun of is yourself. Everything else,
without exception, is off limits. You may think you and the recruiter
share a perspective on politics, gender relations, and certain ethnic
groups. Don’t go there. No laugh is worth insulting someone. There’s
always a risk of humor backfiring. If you think there’s the slightest
chance of offending someone, keep the humor to yourself.

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