When you put your foot in your mouth like this, you lose

Last week, I wrote about the Number One Way to Blow a Telephone Job Interview. Today, I share more examples from employers about how NOT to nail the job interview.

When I was a kid, I used to receive a magazine called Highlights. If you are at least 30, you probably remember seeing it in the waiting room at your pediatrician’s office.

Highlights had a feature titled Goofus and Gallant. Goofus was always doing stuff the wrong way, Gallant was doing it the right way. Today’s “yes, this really happened” story is about Goofus and Gallant in the sports broadcasting job market. The examples come from another broadcasting executive.

This exec interviewed two people for a position. He interviewed Goofus first. Goofus hadn’t researched the executive’s background. When Goofus made a snide remark about a particular university, he was stunned when the employer replied that the university is his alma mater.

When Gallant interviewed with the same person, he had researched so thoroughly that he not only knew where the executive attended college, but he knew the exec had played an Olympic sport at the school.

Gallant got the job offer.

Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.

It might seem like too easy an answer, too simple a solution. It’s not.

If you want to win the job interview, be Gallant. Be prepared.