Is it a Date or an Interview? Cues on Courting a Female Employer

The man I was waiting for was late, a good 15 minutes late. Though he had an Ivy League degree, his school must have left the basic rules of punctuality off its curriculum.

I sipped on my water, reapplied my lip gloss and then took the extra minutes to respond to emails.   Suddenly my phone buzzed and this popped onto its screen:

“I’m just around the corner, be there in 5”

Great, another pre-mature texter.

Could this one be worse than all those I met before him? Not possible, I assured myself as I pulled at my pencil skirt to keep it from riding up. I had carefully screened this guy, even got references from friends that had us linked-in to one another before agreeing to meet with him. 

And then I caught a peak of him through the glass door, taller than I expected, donned in a charcoal gray suit. At first I gave him a silver star for dressing business, not casual, but as he sauntered into the room I noticed his pants were hiked up so high above his waist he needed an extension on his hemline. 

I had been going through this process for so long that a sudden flash of rage jerked at my insides, sending color to my cheeks. “Drink water, drink water,” I told myself trying to maintain some sort of composure.

That’s when he introduced himself to me and after about 5 minutes together it became obvious that he could not stop talking about and agreeing with himself.  Was it just me or was this one way gushing stream of conversation both gratingly self-important and (yawn) boring? 

Another one bites the dust, I thought to myself after several days had gone by with no follow up or thank you.

Just when I thought it was hard to find good talent these days, I got an email from him:  “I never asked about your vacation policy…”  And just like that I realized that finding good candidates to work with is just as difficult as dating.

If you’re in the market for a new job, consider this:  Women are like phones. We love to be talked to but if you press the wrong button you'll be disconnected!

So here is a checklist of things to consider the next time you go on a job interview (or a date) with a woman:

1.    Her time is just as important as yours, so don’t be late.

2.    Too soon text messaging is for the trigger happy, and can be a turn-off.

3.    You Are What You Wear. So make sure pants are not too short, shoes are not too old and outfit is not stained, out of season or tattered with dog hair or dandruff.

4.    It's not all about you, make an effort to look, listen and learn more her too.

5.    Always follow up with a thank you; that last impression is yours to make.