It's funny about job interviews; I've been interviewing a bunch of people for a position that reports to me, and you would think that people would get some rudimentary things right, right??

Well, today some guy meandered into the interview in baggy jeans and a linen button down shirt, open at the collar. Now, I realize this guy was an internal candidate, from an area of the company that doesn't really care what its employees wear, as long as it isn't torn, dirty, or overly-revealing. But - notwithstanding the fact that my area requires some modicum of professional dress (we had to lobby to get ties dumped, successfully I might add) - dontcha think you need to look like you WANT the job? Sheesh. Anyway, his focus was on where he could get promoted to, rather than what this job entailed. I am constantly amazed there are some who don't take a minimum amount of time to prepare for something like this.

I've conducted enough interviews by now to say that the people who get hired are waaaay above those who don't - there doesn't seem to be a sliding scale of "excellent", "good", "ok", "fair" and "suck". People seem to be either spot-on or they're not. I guess it is because the positions that report to me are somewhat junior - if I were interviewing for Vice Presidents, perhaps I might see a more polished talent pool.

But the point of this digression is it doesn't take much to get noticed in an interview - look nice, thoughtful resume, ask questions.....