Job Interview

You likely remember the 3 a.m. phone call. In 2008, the most effective line of attack his opponents mounted against candidate Barack Obama centered on the freshman senator's lack of experience. An ad for Hillary Clinton famously implied that you did not want this callow naif answering the phone at a moment of pre-dawn crisis. Though the country eventually decided it did, in fact, want Mr. Obama, the argument was valuable in that it forced the electorate to ask itself what kind of experience is necessary to a president.

"How much presidential political trivia do you know?" a Sun reporter asked me shortly after I joined The Evening Sun in 1989. "Not much," I admitted cheerfully. I was a second-generation hire at The Baltimore Sun , a fact I had managed to conceal until the final rounds of my job interview. I wasn't particularly honorable, but nepotism had failed to work for me in my eight-year campaign to get a job at my hometown paper, so I had switched up my tactics. My father, Theo Lippman Jr., had been at The Sun since 1965.

Dear Joyce: After four months of being unemployed, I'm doing something wrong. Is it true that the first 60 seconds of a job interview can mean acceptance or rejection? -- H.R.R.Dear H.R.R.: Psychological studies say the early-decision theory is sound. The root idea is the "halo effect," which means that if you make a positive initial impression, the interviewer will be pulling for you after that. And vice versa.Some search specialists say the die is cast within the first 30 seconds. Without splitting hairs, let's say the first five minutes is the make-or-break clock.

Kenneth Allen Maylath, a veteran Baltimore broadcaster who had been host of "Conference Call" on WFBR-AM and was later news director at WCBM-AM, died Saturday of sepsis at Franklin Square Hospital Center. The longtime Parkville resident was 75. Born and raised in Westchester County, N.Y., Mr. Maylath was a 1954 graduate of Croton-Harmon High School in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y. Mr. Maylath's love of radio began in the 1940s, when he listened to the network broadcasts of Arthur Godfrey, one of his favorite on-air personalities, on WCBS Radio.

There are some job seekers who still don't get it. You need to be well-prepared for an interview. It's often the first face-to-face interaction with a potential employer. To avoid making a negative first impression, I asked human resources consultant Eileen Levitt to name some common interview blunders. Levitt is president of the HR Team in Columbia, which helps smaller firms with their recruiting, hiring and other human resources needs. One of the most frequent mistakes job candidates make is not knowing anything about the company.

A terrific resume isn't enough to get you an in-person interview anymore. More and more, you have to go through a telephone screening interview first. Companies just don't have the staff these days to meet every promising candidate face-to-face. Plus, with all the flux in the job market, they're swamped with applications.After all the effort of sending out resumes and cover letters, you're probably thrilled to get a response. But the minute someone from a company calls, warning lights should go on. Most likely they're not calling to invite you in -- they're calling to weed you out.Typical openers are so smooth ("I'd like to know a little more about your background")

LOS ANGELES -- Lucky you. You've got a job interview.Not only do you have to act confident when your palms are damp enough to moisten postage stamps and your stomach is lurching like an off-balance Maytag, but prospective employers expect you to look great, too.No, not like you're going on a date or to a party, but professional and businesslike. Come to an interview with an outfit that's appropriate for the job and the company, said numerous local employers, who shared horror stories about people they never hired and tips for the types they would like to hire.

Etiquette is an important concept in a civilized society: It serves as a guide to manners and behavior, usually in social situations. But what does it have to do with a job interview? A lot, according to Robin Ryan, a career coach based in New Castle, Wash., who has had her own counseling firm since 1991. "Etiquette is an overlooked and lost art of how you should present yourself in a job interview," said Ryan, author of 60 Seconds and You're Hired! (Penguin, $13). "It includes your appearance, your manners and your behavior - how you act during the interview."

Saying it seemed "like a reasonable use of the money," Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris yesterday defended using a little-known departmental fund to finance a trip to attend a funeral in Manhattan and a job interview in Long Island. Norris said he interviewed for the top police post in Nassau County in December because Mayor Martin O'Malley was considering a run for governor. O'Malley later decided not to run. "I was just keeping my options open," Norris said. Norris' trip to New York for the funeral and interview was financed by a loosely monitored account that he used to pay more than $178,000 in expenses during the past two years.

To his outplacement consultant, the unemployed insurance salesman looked "slovenly." With his old plaid shirt, chino pants and shaggy haircut, he sat slouched in the consultant's office.A change of image made a world of difference, recalls Lynn Litow, the Linthicum consultant who helped him through a difficult career transition. A whole new outfit (basic gray suit, striped tie and dress shirt) was a decided plus in the transition, as were pointers offered by Ms. Litow on posture, handshakes and other elements of body language.

Maryland athletic director Kevin Anderson plans to meet with football coach Randy Edsall Saturday night as part of a "top to bottom" review of a football program that ended the season with a 2-10 record that Anderson called "unacceptable. " Edsall's job is safe. "There's no question in my mind I got the right guy here," Anderson said Friday in an interview. But neither Anderson nor others connected to the program would rule out the possibility of changes to Edsall's nine-member staff following a season in which Maryland lost its last eight games.

You likely remember the 3 a.m. phone call. In 2008, the most effective line of attack his opponents mounted against candidate Barack Obama centered on the freshman senator's lack of experience. An ad for Hillary Clinton famously implied that you did not want this callow naif answering the phone at a moment of pre-dawn crisis. Though the country eventually decided it did, in fact, want Mr. Obama, the argument was valuable in that it forced the electorate to ask itself what kind of experience is necessary to a president.

Dry cleaning is one of the first things consumers give up when money is short. But even if you're out of work, there's no reason not to look professional and wrinkle-free on your job interview. ZIPS, a dry cleaner chain expanding on the East Coast, says it will offer free dry cleaning to the unemployed. It promises to clean up to three garments each week. The deal runs through the end of the first quarter. ZIPS doesn't want to be taking to the cleaners, either. You must provide proof that you are out of a job and looking for work.

When the Center Club held a focus group asking its members what events they wanted to hold, some suggested a fashion show. But any old fashion show wouldn't do. It had to mean something. "We talked about our members being very philanthropic and wanting to give back," said Nancy Sloane, director of membership and marketing for the Center Club. "So that was a component we wanted to make a part of the fashion show. " At 7 p.m. Friday, the Center Club will host its first-ever runway show, Couture at the Club: An Evening of Ravishing Fashion.

Nicole Nussbaum knows better than to wear a T-shirt, a hoodie and leggings to a job interview. That's why the Atholton High School junior wore the casual outfit in a "Dress for Success" fashion show for teens yesterday: to help show her peers what not to wear to a job interview. The fashion show was part of the third annual Teen Job and Volunteer Fair at Long Reach High School in Columbia. The free event, coordinated by the nonprofit HC DrugFree, included more than 85 exhibitors and workshops for teens on topics such as interviewing skills.

Tuesday is the most productive day of the week for workers. At least that's according to a recent survey of 150 senior executives from the nation's 1,000 largest companies. The survey by Accountemps found that 57 percent favored Tuesday, compared with 12 percent for Monday and 11 percent each for Wednesday and Thursday. It was no surprise that Friday, with 3 percent, was considered the least productive day of the week. Elizabeth Albright, coordinator of academic operations at Towson University's College of Business and Economics, says she gets the most work done between Tuesday and Thursday - and in the mornings, too. "Monday is definitely catch-up time and trying to plan for the week and making sure you have things lined up," she says.

Includes the following stories:Cover Story : When the economy shows signs of slowing down where can workers, young and old, look for jobs that offer a bright future?, p. 3Which job is for you? : Everyone has skills that can lead to a good job. But a lot of preparation is needed before you start job-hunting., p. 7Surviving the Interview : Making a good impression during a job interview may get you the job you want., p. 9List of state job service offices, p. 11Job Fairs '90 advertising insert, p.1AJobs '90 Editor: Claudette N. Arons

Stick to the basics: If you like to ask prospective employees trick questions or try to intimidate them, you won't find out what really matters: can this person do the job? Nicholas Corcodilos, an executive search consultant interviewed in Working Woman magazine, says a job interview should not be about a candidate's most challenging experience or greatest accomplishments. "Interviewing is about the job," he says. Better would be a hands-on session in which someone gets to show what he or she can do, Mr. Corcodilos said.

I don't think people do this enough, but it's a no-brainer: Writing thank-you notes. Sure, e-mail is the fastest and the most convenient way to communicate in the business world these days. But if you want to stand out - whether in the job search process or in snagging a new client - give what some may call an old-fashioned practice a try. It works. "It's a differentiator," says Anna Post, a business etiquette trainer with the Emily Post Institute. "Say, you're applying for a job and you have gone through the interview process.

Stephan Dowler created a digital character named Estephan Dollinger and fretted over his alter ego's hair and wardrobe. And he spent six hours exploring a virtual world called Second Life, where Internet users act out parallel lives. After all, even in this three-dimensional social networking space, Dowler wants his virtual persona, known as an avatar, to look and act professionally. That's because Dowler, or rather Dollinger, will be teleported to a virtual island on the digital universe for a job interview today.