WorkWise BlogTip: How to avoid getting taken advantage of in interview

TIPS

Lance Paterson (www.moonlightconsultancy.com), who’s applied for jobs and hired people for them, says you can get hired and keep employers without allowing them to take advantage of you.

He talks about the candidate for a plum in the entertainment industry who didn’t dress “smart-casual.” Instead, Paterson says he arrived in “a crisp, custom pinstripe – (not) the best choice when your interviewer looks adorably like Abby from ‘NCIS,’ and her receptionist looks as if he rolled out of bed straight through a combine harvester. (Bonus tip: Try not to look openly shocked at anything a prospective boss is wearing).”

Even if a recruiter told you where and when to go, and gave you the names of contacts, spare yourself a heart attack. “Call the front desk, because finding out your destination's demolished and the temporary office is 20 minutes up the road” can trigger one, he explains.

If you’re doing spec work, don’t be a rug or a sucker who unloads valuable intellectual property information over an extended period of time. Paterson advises being wary of the “prospective employer who fails to hire and/or pay you because of everything from a venture capitalist’s pet dying to losing a number of emails on his new iPad.”