* Job interview body language can say more than the words do.
* Polite job candidates can keep themselves out of trouble.
* Recruiters should check out their hunches with questions or references.

Job candidates: Watch where you set that drinking glass.
© Pali Rao, iStockphoto

I recently heard a story about a job candidate — not with a journalism company — who walked into someone’s office for an interview and, without asking, set the water glass he was carrying on the interviewer’s desk.

That sounds innocent and natural. But it was offputting to the interviewer. To the interviewer, the water glass on his desk suggested an inappropriate degree of aggression and superiority by the candidate. The glass was not just a glass, but a way of staking a claim to territory that wasn’t his. Would he act the same way with clients? The interviewer mentioned this to a superior, who already wasn’t high on the candidate. The superior declared that this hire was not going to happen.

Bye-bye $100,000 job.

Now, the water glass did not cost the candidate the job. He was already on thin ice with the superior. But it illustrates how big little things can be.

As the recruiting coordinator at the Free Press, I always tried to meet candidates first. Sometimes I met them at conventions or campuses. I also liked to pick them up at the airport or at their hotel in the morning for breakfast.

I watched for little signs.

Someone who left an empty cup on the table at a coffee shop or in the lobby of our building might be saying that they are used to having others clean up their messes. In fact, in one case, a reference told me that was exactly so. I asked because I had seen how the candidate left little messes for others to clean up. It was an indicator of her management style.

Of course, a candidate might just be nervous or forgetful, so I seldom drew conclusions from what I observed — but I checked out what started as just hints or signs.

A person whom I had let into my car for the drive to the office might lean across the car to unlock the driver’s door, showing consideration and helpfulness. A co-worker told me that a candidate might refrain from this to avoid seeming too forward, so it pays to gather more information before you make a conclusion.

I paid especially close attention to how candidates treated other people, whether it was a waiter at a restaurant or my office assistant. I did not like to see candidates act as though they were evaluating how important people were and putting them on a scale. This would be a drawback for journalists, who get information from people in all walks of life.

WHAT’S A CANDIDATE TO DO?

Remember that actions speak louder than words.

Use your best manners. Don’t worry about being too polite. Recruiters expect people to be extra polite when they are interviewing. They might joke that you can relax. They will not be surprised if you use your best manners.

Pay attention to the effects your actions seem to have on the interviewer. Use humor to recover from missteps.

And interviewers, what should you do? Don’t make conclusions based on observations. You nay not know the individual well enough to divine character traits from isolated actions. But trust your instincts and check them out. If you pick up on something, plan your questions accordingly and check things out with the references.