Create a Great
First Impression
Headhunters, career counselors, and professionals engaged in
recruiting efforts at Fortune 100 companies all stress the prime
importance of creating a great first impression. As the old saying goes,
you only make a first impression once, so you want to make sure that
impression is excellent. The following aspects of making a great first
impression stand out as most important.
“Informational” Interviews: Formal or Not,
They’re Interviews
Many candidates try to get an edge by securing informational interviews
with human resources personnel or with professionals in the corpora-
tions in which they hope to gain employment. Others receive invitations
to attend large informational sessions with corporate representatives to
learn more about a particular company. Believing that the exchange will
be informational and therefore informal, some candidates make the mis-
take of going into such situations too casually—unrehearsed, under-
dressed, unprepared for deep discussion because they have not
adequately researched the industry and company, and inattentive to key
business etiquette. Unwittingly, those candidates are making their first
impression, and that first impression is largely negative. Headhunters,
recruiters, and career counselors affirm that lack of preparedness for
informal interviews can be a key reason as to why candidates lose job
opportunities.
