WorkWise BlogTip: Verification, please

It's easy to become overly inspired in your opinion of yourself during a job hunt. Watch out for purple prose. It might not be verifiable. Worse, it might be wrong.

A contributor to Youhavegottobekidding.com tells about an interview with a person who wanted to work in pharmaceuticals. He listed his strengths -- or what he thought they were -- one, two, three, four. Then came the fifth one. He was "very good looking."

"After the announcement," the recruiter writes, "my peer kicked me under the table. I'm glad he did, because I thought I misunderstood the statement." As the interview wound down, he was given one more shot at the job.

He couldn't stop his DVD of himself. Asked why he should be considered above the competition, he provided eight reasons. The last referred to his looks, again.

When the interview was over, the recruiter told her colleague that she wish she'd said, "'So and So,' you are a great candidate, but you are just too good looking. We're afraid you'll be a distraction to your co-workers and the doctors and nurses."

In the end, she described him as "an average-looking guy."

Dr. Mildred L. Culp welcomes your questions at culp@workwise.net. Copyright 2009 Passage Media.