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Don’t Bring Anyone to an Interview

Job search is difficult – for both job seekers and recruiters. In our community, we have several recruiters, hiring managers and business owners looking to find great talent to fit within their organizations. There are at times disconnects.

Glenn Robinson, President, Blue Ridge Information Systems, has been in the defense and intelligence community for over 20 years. Earlier in his career, he managed recruiting and staffing functions.

From time to time, Glenn has shared with his community rules or tips that he feels today’s job seeker might want to ponder as they continue their job search.

Never ever bring anyone to an interview.

I would like to add, “Does this really need to be explained?” But I think for some, it does. This does not happen often, but it is a sad and growing trend that really needs to never occur.

Even if your intention is for the person accompanying you to wait in the lobby, have them wait in the car. Or somewhere else off site.

Your job interview is between you and your employer, not an outing for your family. Granted interviews can make some people nervous. There are ways to handle this nervousness, but bringing your mother or your spouse to an interview is not one of them.

While you may think bringing a support team with you to an interview will help your chances, it will only hurt you in keeping your focus off the interview and making you appear unprofessional. The company is interviewing you, not your support team. And if you do get the job, the company is hiring just you.

From an equal-opportunity employment law perspective all candidates must be treated equally, meaning asked the same basic questions under the same conditions. If you were to bring a “guest” to your interview, you are being treated differently from other job seekers, which is not allowed.

This same advice is also relevant for career events. Job fairs and networking events are not the time to have your parents or spouses accompany you. We often see cleared job seekers bringing their spouses to Cleared Job Fairs and asking if the non-cleared spouse can join them in the job fair. That’s not a strategy for success.