Interviews: Do you care to share?

Ask Kate - Colin writes: “Should I be honest with potential employers at interview and let them know that I also have other interviews that I have been invited to attend?”

I was once given some great advice about making the right impression on a first date: “Only answer questions.”

The message was that volunteering too many details too early could serve as a distraction to the person you are trying to impress.

Same applies to job interviews. Your resume got you the interview by demonstrating you have the skills and experience the employer wants. Figuring out if you are a right fit for the employer and they for you should be the focus of your discussion.

If you are asked a direct question about interviewing with other prospective employers, sure, be honest. Or at the end of the interview if you want to suss out the time line for filling the job, fine, explain you have other irons in the fire.

However, you do not “have to” share the info.

Also, a follow up from Linlea of last week. Linlea was worried that she may have irritated an HR manager. “My friend believes I ruined my chances as I seemed ‘over eager’.”I thought Linlea just showed she was keen and it seems I was right.

“Unfortunately, while I was unsuccessful, the HR manager thanked me for dropping in my hard copy samples and asked for my permission to retain my details on file for any future opportunities as my experience was highly regarded but did not match as closely as the other candidate.

An acquaintance of mine also applied but was not asked if her details could be retained.”