Not employing a candidate because you don't like their mannerisms seems utterly ridiculous in my eyes...
Yes, it's not appropriate, but if they're excellent in every other way why should it make a shred of difference? If they'll be doing anything involving PR or whatever then it's easy to tell them it's not appropriate. If they aren't doing anything customer-facing then I can't see how it's a factor.
Work is an acting game. Anyone who can't demonstrate an understanding how to behave appropriately in a given situation, such a job interview, is at a disadvantage. If I was in the OP's shoes, I'd hold a question mark over that person's communication skills and the way they might act with customers. Especially for a role as an account manager. That's just the way it works. There are a lot of jobs out there where thousands of people have the required skill sets, but personal attributes which are a cause for concern for a recruiter. Communication is an intrinsic element of advertising - it's all about the message you're conveying to people. The hapless applicant, regardless of his technical competencies, made an error of epic proportions in my opinion.
G'day everyone,
I thought I would share the following with you all and see what your reaction is. I'm on the board of directors of an advertising company based in London. Given my senior position in the company I very rarely get involved in interviewing candidates however a couple of weeks a go I was in our London office when I was introduced to a young man who had just been interviewed for a vacancy. The gentleman was in his mid twenties and university educated with a good degree. Our Head Of Talent introduced me after which I smiled, said a few words and held my hand out for a handshake. At this point it couldn't have been more obvious that I intended to shake his hand.
However, much to my absolute amazement he decided to give me a fist bump! What on earth! Not only was my colleague shocked and perplexed but so was I. One of the biggest issues that employers have is that graduates are all too often simply not equipped for working life but even I was surprised. Rather like our own children this young man had received an excellent state education and yet I could never have imagined our own little darlings doing anything so stupid.
Some of you might think I'm being a little harsh here but our organisation is run on a informal basis where possible and everything we do is done to encourage creative talent, without which we wouldn't make any money. Needless to say the young man wasn't successful simply because of his appalling lack of judgement.
Your thoughts on this would be very welcome!
Kind regards,
Richmond Commuter!
There are a lot of talented people out of university who have never had a job before. I finish university in less than 6 weeks. Although I've had a decent education on the subject I study, I can't say university has done anything to teach me about workplace politics or etiquette - I've only learnt about those things as I've studied and worked contemporaneously since I was 16. What it can teach passively is time/workload management skills.
I hear stories about people who have struggled to adapt to the real world quickly enough after leaving university. Some can't handle the structured lifestyle, whilst others bring a misguided sense of entitlement into the workplace on the back of their degree. I attended a graduate/intern Christmas boat party the year before last and some were behaving like they were still at uni! I was thinking "whoa, you have to work with these people, how are you behaving like that?!"
Growing up in inner urban South London, fist bumps were an ingrained part of the culture. But the thought wouldn't even cross my mind to initiate one in a job interview and certainly not when being introduced to senior people. Some things in life, people don't tell you because it's
so stupid unreasonable to assume it's a course of action that would be taken. The fist bump as described is one of them.
All that said however, that faux pas might not be indicative of the applicant's capabilities. If he's never worked before, given the chance it's probable that he could adapt to the working conditions with a bit of guidance. I understand why it was a terminal error, but if he was otherwise promising, perhaps the risk might have paid off.