Candidates Need to Refine Interviewing Techniques in Different Climate.

Business Editors

CLEVELAND--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2001

In an economic climate in which uncertainty reigns, interviewing for a job has become a different exercise than it was only a few short months ago. There are still plenty of jobs to be found, but now there is more competition for the best of them. More than at anytime in recent years, how you present yourself to a potential employer can be the difference between landing your dream job and not.

According to top recruiters at Management Recruiters International, Inc. (MRI), the world's largest search and recruitment organization, presenting yourself well means making sure your skills come through but guarding against obviously taking credit for too much or boasting. These mistakes are among the top job killers for candidates who are obviously qualified for positions but seem consistently to lose out to others. MRI is a subsidiary of CDI Corp. (NYSE:CDI), a global top 10 provider of staffing and outsourcing.

"If you force an interviewer to take some of the things you say with a grain of salt, you force him to take everything you say the same way," said Allen Salikof, president and CEO of MRI. "It's highly detrimental to position yourself as the ultimate 'guru' when you're not, no matter how much you think the employer wants the guru. If anything you say doesn't ring true, it will hurt you more than help you."

Salikof notes that for candidates who are truly qualified for a position the two biggest impediments to passing the interview and landing the job are complaining about former employers and boasting. He offers these simple interview tips to avoid problems:

-- Don't criticize, condemn or complain in your interview, particularly about
previous employers. These are the behaviors of sore losers not forward-thinking
professionals. They are a red flag that you'll do the same if hired.

-- Give honest, sincere assessments of your skills and achievements without
boasting or exaggerating. Interviewers are usually experienced in assessing
your manner as well as your skills. Exaggerating--claiming credit for results
that were clearly beyond the scope of actual jobs, for example--call not only
your skills but your honesty into question.

-- Give credit to others, particularly people who reported to you, where it is
due. Nothing signals to an interviewer that you are a team player and can
encourage success in others better than this.

"There are still many more jobs out there than there are candidates," added Salikof. "The question is how many people are vying for the job you badly want. Fit is as important as skills in today's job market, and an interview is the time to convey both of these crucial aspects of yourself to your prospective employer."

Management Recruiters International, Inc. (www.BrilliantPeople.com), is the world's largest search and recruitment organization with more than 1,000 offices worldwide. Based in Cleveland, MRI has system-wide billings of $600 million and places 45,000 people in jobs annually. MRI is a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based CDI Corp. (www.cdicorp.com), a global top 10 provider of staffing and outsourcing services. In 2000, CDI had revenues of more than $1.7 billion and nearly 100,000 people worked on company assignments.